Evolutionary theories of aging: handle with care
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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

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1Laboratoire d'Ethologie et Psychologie Animale, UMR CNRS No. 5550, Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France. lebourg@cict.fr
Background:
Evolutionary theories are considered by a growing number of gerontologists as providing a basis to understand why aging occurs.
Objective:
In such conditions, a risk could exist to favor evolutionary explanations rather than nonevolutionary ones, even when both equally fit the data.
Methods:
A paper recently published on longevity in ants is analyzed, and a study of fertility and longevity in human beings is done to illustrate this risk.
Results:
In the two cases, evolutionary and concurrent hypotheses may apply to the same data.
Conclusions:
When both kinds of explanations may be applied, the way to solve the problem is not to favor one explanation by relying on a priori preferences, particularly if the favored hypothesis is still controversial.
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