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Apply today for the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador Academy! The Academy is a multi-year professional development experience designed to support evidence-based teaching practices. We’re looking for educators with diverse backgrounds and teaching contexts who are committed to centering equity in their classrooms.Baboon Longevity Under Adversity
Resource Type
Description
This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study on how adversity in early life impacts the long-term survival of baboons.
Experiencing poverty, abuse, and other adverse conditions in childhood may increase an individual’s risk for health issues as an adult. In this study, scientists analyzed long-term survival data from a baboon population in Kenya. The figure shows survival curves for 196 adult female baboons, grouped by the number of adverse conditions they had experienced early in life. The conditions included drought, overcrowding, low social status, maternal loss, and sibling rivalry.
The “Educator Materials” document includes a captioned figure, background information, graph interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes a captioned figure and background information.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Analyze and interpret data from a scientific figure.
- Read and compare survival curves for different groups.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
adverse condition, Kaplan-Meier plot, lifespan, stairstep graph, survival curve, survival probability, survivorship function
Primary Literature
Tung, Jenny, Elizabeth A. Archie, Jeanne Altmann, and Susan C. Alberts. “Cumulative early life adversity predicts longevity in wild baboons.” Nature Communications 7, 1 (2016): 11181. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11181.
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS2-8; SEP2, SEP4, SEP5
AP Biology (2019)
ENE-4.B, IST-5.A; SP1, SP4
IB Biology (2016)
C.5
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 3.3, 3.5, 3.7
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-3.C, ERT-3.F, EIN-1.B, SP2, SP4, SP5,
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.7
Math.S-ID.6, Math.S-IC.4; MP2, MP5
Vision and Change (2009)
CC5; DP2, DP3