Interestingly, neither lemur species exhibited significant age-related inflammation, with ring-tailed lemurs showing only marginal declines as they aged, contrary to expectations.

Understanding inflammaging is crucial because it is associated with many age-related diseases such as heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Researchers at Duke University have studied primates to understand why humans experience age-related inflammation, revealing that not all primates show this pattern.

Additionally, ring-tailed lemurs showed higher DNA damage levels, likely due to their faster reproductive strategy, yet they did not develop the typical inflammation seen in humans.

The study, published on July 2, 2025, in the Journal of Comparative Physiology B, compared urine samples from 41 ring-tailed lemurs and 49 Coquerel’s sifakas to analyze aging markers.

The research found that sifakas had slightly higher inflammation levels, possibly due to health issues linked to captivity, suggesting environmental factors influence aging.

This study contributes to the broader understanding of how aging processes vary among primates and could have implications for human health.

The findings could offer insights into preventing or mitigating inflammation-related health issues in humans as the global population ages.

By studying these primates, scientists hope to uncover why humans uniquely suffer from chronic inflammation and how to address it.

The research involved analyzing urine samples from primates in captivity, which may differ from natural aging processes, and plans are underway to extend the study to wild lemurs for comparison.