Baboons can recover from childhood trauma with a little help from their friends
Of the 199 baboons in a new study, 75 percent suffered through at least one stressor, and 33 percent had two or more. Deposit Photos Forging strong social relationships can help mitigate the effects of traumatic childhood events in human adults, but also in baboons. A study published May 17 in the journal Science Advances drew on 36 years of data from almost 200 baboons in southern Kenya and found that even though early adversity can take years of their lifespans, stronger social bonds in adulthood can help get these years back. [Related: Baboon poop shows how chronic stress shortens lives.] “It’s like the saying from the King James Apocrypha, ‘a faithful friend is the medicine of life,’” co-author and Duke University biologist and evolutionary anthropologist Susan Alberts said in a statement. Studies have...