Baboon Longevity Under Adversity

Graph of baboon longevity from the activity

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Saved By

6 Users

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

Student Learning Targets

Analyze and interpret data from a scientific figure.
Read and compare survival curves for different groups.

Estimated Time

Within one 50-minute class period.

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.