Chimps and orangutans may experience midlife crises
By Ian Sample, science correspondent 19 November, 2012
There comes a time in some men’s lives when the days seem darker, death more certain, and the only sensible response is to blow the life savings on a sportscar.
Radical and often ill-advised changes in lifestyle are typical for the midlife crisis but, if it is more than a myth, then humans may not be the only animals to experience it.
Now an international team of scientists claims it has found evidence for a slump in well-being among middle-aged chimpanzees and orangutans. The lull in happiness in the middle years, they say, is the ape equivalent of the midlife crisis.
The findings of the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the midlife crisis may have its roots in the biology humans share with our closest evolutionary cousins.
More than 500 apes were included in the study in three separate groups. The first two groups were chimpanzees, with the third made up of orangutans. “In all three groups we find evidence that well-being is lowest in chimpanzees and orangutans at an age that corresponds more or less to midlife in humans,” Weiss said.
Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford University, was sceptical about the findings. “What can produce a sense of well-being that varies across their lifetimes like this? It’s hard to see anything in an ape’s life that would have that sort of pattern. They’re not particularly good at seeing far ahead into the future; that’s one of the big differences between them and us.”
But Weiss believes the findings could point to a deeper understanding of the emotional crisis some men may experience. “If we want to find the answer to the question of what’s going on with the midlife crisis, we should look at what is similar in middle-aged humans, chimps and orangutans,” he said.
Available at: http://www.onestopenglish.com. (Adapted)
I. Weiss thinks the study can help to understand what happen to human being when reaches the middle aged.
II. The results of the study will be published soon in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
III. The research intended to find out whether the primates suffer from a crisis when they\'re middle aged.
IV. The study showed that gorillas don\'t suffer from a midlife crisis.
V. The researchers are skeptical about the findings.
VI. The results show that only human being reaches a middle aged crisis.
Mark the correct answer:
