Older bonobos are forced to groom others at arm’s length due to their long-sightedness (Image by Heungjin Ryu CC BY-NC 4.0)
Bonobos may not ever encounter indistinguishable writing on a label or small print in a book, but they could still benefit from a pair of reading glasses. A new study found that a similar kind of age-related long-sightedness that affects humans also influences the quality of life for bonobos. But instead of the mild inconvenience of needing glasses to read a newspaper, the inability to see small details up close has a much larger impact on the bonobos. Namely, it negatively affects the bonobos’ ability to groom their peers – something that can hinder the primates’ social lives. This research also suggests that long-sightedness in humans isn’t a result of our lifestyle choices, but a natural consequence of aging.
Authors:
Heungjin Ryu, Kirsty E. Graham, Tetsuya Sakamaki, Takeshi Furuichi
Corresponding author:
Heungjin Ryu, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan
Original paper published in Current Biology on November 7, 2016.
