Grumpiness in older people is a commonly observed phenomenon, but a new series of studies into sociability in ageing animals reveals the potential benefit of the trait.
“Overall, it’s looking like there’s a general pattern of individuals becoming less social with age,” Dr Josh Firth, University of Leeds professor and editor of the new series, told the Guardian. The 16-paper series, published as a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Series, examines everything from monkeys to birds to insects to explore how animals change their social behaviour as they get older.
The key benefit identified across multiple species is reduced exposure to disease. Our immune responses become less robust as we age and animals are no different. A study co-authored by Firth looked at wild adult female red deer, which generally grow more vulnerable to parasitic worm infections as they get older.
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The animals “can offset that by not interacting with as many individuals,” he explained to the Guardian. Similar behaviour was seen in a study based on the social interactions of rhesus macaques, in which older animals could reduce the risk of the most severe infections for their age group by being less sociable.
At the same time, studies have identified several pluses to staying connected, with sociable creatures tending to live longer. The good news is that humans can get the best of both worlds – thanks to digital technology.
Firth suggests that digital tools like texting and video calls safely enable seniors to maintain social ties as well as develop virtual same-age communities to make up for the loss of peers that comes with ageing. “While it is certainly [worth] still trying to mitigate the obvious disadvantages that might come with people reducing their social connections as they age, we should also consider the potential benefits,” he said.
