We are not alone: Apes experience mid-life crisis too, says study

A study, which involved more than 500 apes, reveals that they too experience mid-life crisis

13:38 22 November 2012

Mid-life crisis has been one thing that puzzles even the scientists in society. Today, with a study being conducted involving chimpanzees and orang-utans, another piece of that puzzle is finally being put into place.

 

The study, which involved observing 500 captive apes in zoos from different countries, shows that these animals suffer a similar mid-life crisis that is known to affect men and women from different socio-economic groups.

The keepers of the apes involved in the study were given a rigorous set of criteria. The results show that apes follow the same distinctive U-shape curve seen in humans. Young ones start out happy. However, they suffer from a gradual emotional dip as they grow older before they become happy again.

Professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University said that the study can help better understand middle crisis that affect humans. He added that the study confirms mid-life crisis has little to do with the economic trappings of middle age.

 

He said: “We hoped to understand a famous scientific puzzle: why does human happiness follow an approximate U-shape through life?”

 

“We ended up showing that it cannot be because of mortgages, marital breakup, mobile phones or any of the other paraphernalia of modern life. Apes also have a pronounced mid-life low, and they have none of those.”