Yellow-bellied Marmots’ Secret to Their Longevity Solved by Researchers

UCLA scientists and colleagues investigating yellow-bellied marmots made a discovery.

The researchers revealed today, March 8, in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution that these huge ground squirrels can practically stop their aging process when hibernating in their underground tunnels for seven to eight months.

The experiment was the first one to look at the rate of aging in wild marmots, and it found that this anti-aging effect starts when the animals reach sexual maturity, which is around 2 years old.

Hibernation is one aspect that contributes to marmot lifespan

According to ScienceDaily, the researchers analyzed marmot blood samples gathered throughout numerous summer seasons in Colorado when the animals are active above ground to create statistical models that allowed them to estimate what happens during hibernation.

They evaluated the biological age of the marmots using epigenetic alterations, which are hundreds of chemical modifications to their DNA.

Their findings from several statistical methodologies show that epigenetic aging effectively stops during hibernation, according to lead author Gabriela Pinho, a UCLA Ph.D. student mentored by ecology and evolutionary biology professors Daniel Blumstein and Robert Wayne.

They discovered that the epigenetic age of marmots grows during the active season, ceases during hibernation, and then increases again during the next active season.

Hibernation, an evolutionary adaptation that allows animals to survive in severe seasonal settings with little food and very low temperatures, is frequent among tiny mammals endemic to the mountainous western parts of the United States and Canada, such as marmots.

The hibernation of marmots varies between periods of metabolic suppression lasting a week or two and shorter periods of enhanced metabolism lasting less than a day.

During metabolic suppression, their respiration slows and their body temperature dips drastically, making them feel like fuzzy, chilly pebbles, according to Blumstein.

Marmots' anti-social status can also cause their longevity

If the population of yellow-bellied marmots becomes too big, putting a strain on available habitat, a mother yellow-bellied marmot will occasionally let her daughters settle nearby, and around half will accept the invitation, as per the New York Times.

The researchers saw marmots sitting next to each other, foraging together, playing together, and grooming one another.

The marmots under study were housed in 11 different colonies near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado.

It's difficult to say why socializing would be bad for a marmot's health. Dr. Blumstein believed that the animals may be spreading infections among themselves.

Perhaps they are more prone to rouse each other up while hibernating, leading them to starve in the bleak winter forest.

Or maybe the time they spend socializing would be better spent watching for predators.

"There is a range of conceivable explanations," he stated.

For people, not being sociable is roughly equivalent to smoking a pack or two of cigarettes every day.

Social bonds are thought to help these animals in times of danger and act as a stress buffer.

Social mores in humans also give a nudge toward healthy practices, such as washing your hands and avoiding eating out of the garbage.

The findings, according to the researchers, call for more investigation into the social behaviors of ostensibly antisocial creatures such as pumas and bears.

While such creatures have a reputation for being antagonistic to one another, knowing that familiarity increases death, possibly their seclusion is motivated by a wish to maintain the species.