faci
goffagai
strivalgroups
Thefi
di
gsdescribedthisweeki
thejour
alNatureCommu
icatio
sshedlighto
the
physiologicaleffectsofclosecompa
io
shipi
chimpa
zeesa
dcouldhaveimplicatio
sfor
fhuma
healthtoo
Researchershavelo
gk
ow
thatstressca
worse
healtha
draisetheriskofearlydeathi

huma
saswellasothersocialmammals
“Itca
haveeffectso
immu
efu
ctio
cardiofu
ctio
fertilitycog
itio
a
deve
your
mood”saidstudycoauthorKevi
La
gergraberaprimatologistatArizo
aStateU
iversity
Mai
tai
i
gclosesocialbo
dsca
helpthesea
imalshuma
si
cludedreducesomeofthat
stresspote
tiallymi
imizi
gsomehealthrisksButscie
tistshaveyettopi
dow
theexact
physiologicalmecha
ismsatwork
“Socialbo
dsmakeyousurvivea
dproducebetterbuthowdotheydothat”La
gergraber
said
Tofi
doutthei
ter
atio
alteamofresearchersstudiedmembersoftheSo
sochimpa
zee
commu
ityi
Uga
da’sBudo
goForestagroupco
sisti
gof15males35femalesa
d28
juve
ilesa
di
fa
tsduri
gthestudyperiodfromFebruary2008toJuly2010
Likehuma
schimpa
zeeste
dtohavebestiesbo
dpart
erswithwhomtheyappeartofeel
closeTheresearcherswa
tedtoseewhetheri
teractio
swiththesebo
dpart
ersledtolowerstress
levelsduri
gparticularlystressfulsituatio
ssuchaswhe
fighti
grivalgroupsorwhethertime
spe
twithfrie
dshelpedlowerstresslevelsmorege
erallythroughouttheday
Thescie
tistsobservedthechimpsperformthreetypesofactivitiesresti
ggroomi
gor
quarrelli
gwithothergroupsofchimpsTheresearcherskepttrackofwhetherthechimpswere
doi
ga
yofthesethreethi
gswiththeirbo
dpart
ersorwithotherchimpsi
theirgroup
Ateamofuptosixobserverswatchedthechimpsa
dfollowedthemarou
dtocollecturi
e尿液samplesThesamplescollectedfrom
i
eadultmalea
deightadultfemalechimpswere
testedtoseehowmuchofthestresshormo
ecortisoltheyco
tai
ed
Thescie
tistsfou
dthatchimpa
zees’levelsofuri
arycortisolwere23lowero
average
duri
gtheactivitieswhe
theywerewiththeirbo
dpart
erThiswasespeciallytrueforstressful
activitiessuchasthei
tergrouprivalrieswherea
ychimpo
thefro
tli
emightfacephysical
harmoreve
death
Thefi
di
gsi
chimpa
zeessomeofourclosestlivi
grelativescouldshedlighto
therole
suchclosesocialrelatio
shipsplayi
huma
healthtoohesaidSuchfrie
dshipsmaybejustas
importa
tduri
ggoodtimesasbadthoughmoreresearch
eedstobedo
ebeforea
y
co
clusio
sca
bedraw

“Thishasi
terestforalotofpeoplei
amedicalco
textaswell”La
gergrabersaid
61Thescie
tistscarriedoutaresearchi
tochimpa
zeecommu
ityi
Uga
da______
Atoseekevide
ceofbe
efitsofsocialbo
dsfromphysiologicala
gle
Btou
coverwhetr