Tanzanian chimpanzeeFLICKR, NILS RINALDI
The brains of chimpanzees don’t undergo a general reduction in volume as the animals age, a sign of general cognitive decline that humans experience. The finding, published today (July 25) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that extreme neurological degeneration is the price humans pay for having evolved big brains and long life spans.
“Human beings and chimpanzees follow a similar lifespan in absolute years until you get late in life, and then humans have somehow managed to extend our lifespan,” said anthropologist and neuroscientist Todd Preuss of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study. This study shows that during those extra years, we experience a sharper downturn in brain function, he added.
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