Age-related changes in the capability to produce healthy young are common in humans and are increasingly well documented in nonhuman animals. However, differences among species in the nature of these age-related changes remain poorly understood. We compare patterns and consequences of age-related changes in female reproductive performance in seven primate populations that have been subjects of long-term continuous study for 29 to 57 y. Our analyses of parental age effects on fertility, offspring survival, and offspring development highlight some shared patterns of parental age effects that may be general across the order primates. At the same time, we also identify species-level differences that implicate behavioral and life-history patterns as drivers of the evolution of parental age effects.

Are differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation across the adult life span linked to differences in survival? This question has been the subject of considerable debate. We analyze the link between survival and fecal glucocorticoid (GC) measures in a wild primate population, leveraging an unusually extensive longitudinal dataset of 14,173 GC measurements from 242 adult female baboons over 1634 female years. We document a powerful link between GCs and survival: Females with relatively high current GCs or high lifelong cumulative GCs face an elevated risk of death. A hypothetical female who maintained GCs in the top 90% for her age across adulthood would be expected to lose 5.4 years of life relative to a female who maintained GCs in the bottom 10% for her age. Hence, differences among individuals in HPA axis activity provide valuable prognostic information about disparities in life span. In wild female baboons, high fecal glucocorticoid concentrations measured repeatedly across adulthood predict shorter life spans. In wild female baboons, high fecal glucocorticoid concentrations measured repeatedly across adulthood predict shorter life spans.

People who are more socially integrated or have higher socio-economic status live longer. Recent studies in non-human primates show striking convergences with this human pattern: female primates with more social partners, stronger social bonds or higher dominance rank all lead longer lives. However, it remains unclear whether social environments also predict survival in male non-human primates, as it does in men. This gap persists because, in most primates, males disperse among social groups, resulting in many males who disappear with unknown fate and have unknown dates of birth. We present a Bayesian model to estimate the effects of time-varying social covariates on age-specific adult mortality in both sexes of wild baboons. We compare how the survival trajectories of both sexes are linked to social bonds and social status over the life. We find that, parallel to females, male baboons who are more strongly bonded to females have longer lifespans. However, males with higher dominance rank for their age appear to have shorter lifespans. This finding brings new understanding to the adaptive significance of heterosexual social bonds for male baboons: in addition to protecting the male’s offspring from infanticide, these bonds may have direct benefits to males themselves. This article is part of the theme issue `Evolution of the primate ageing process.’