1: Plenary Address

Marmoset Longevity: Its Place in the Mammalian Scheme

S. Austad

Affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

Marmoset longevity will be compared to life history data on more than 600 species of mammals in order to evaluate its longevity both in the context of general mammalian life history patterns and primate-specific life histories. Such an analysis reveals that: (1) primates are not the longest-lived mammalian order, either by absolute longevity, longevity corrected for body size, or metabolic expenditure per lifetime; (2) although relative brain size is highly correlated with longevity in primates, this is an aberrant trend for mammals in general, and other body organs account for an even greater amount of variation in longevity; (3) marmosets live about as long as an average primate of their body size; and (4) the limits of marmoset longevity in a captive setting have probably not yet been approached.

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