Flamingus reveals the secret of young survival

To explore this puzzle, scientists turned their attention to the phenicopterus roseus, a graceful immigrant bird that symbolizes the Camargue region in France. Birds that are not older than the same way thanks to the Flamingo brands and tracking program that was conducted for more than 40 years by the Du Valate Tour Institute, scientists have discovered an amazing phenomenon: Migural flamingos more than resident Flamengos. In this type, some birds remain in Camarge throughout their life (called “population”), while others travel every year along the shores of the Mediterranean (these are “immigrants”). At the beginning of their adult lives, the best residents of the lakes in the French Mediterranean coast during the winter season, they survive and lean more than immigrants. But at any cost? With their age, the population decreases more quickly. As aging increases by 40 %, its multiplication capacity and increased risk of death increases faster than immigrant flamingos. On the contrary, Flamengus immigrants, those who leave for the winter in Italy, Spain or North Africa, pay a high price for these seasonal seasonal trips (high death rate and low reproductive rates) but they seem to be compensated for this through a slower aging at an advanced age. Consequently, the beginning of the aging process occurred earlier in the population (20.4 years on average) compared to migrants (21.9 years).

Migration: Animal behavior affects aging

This study shows that seasonal migration – a behavior shown by billions of animals – can affect the rate of aging. In Flamingus, deciding not to migrate provides early life -related advantages of aging at an advanced age. “This may be associated with the concession between the performance of youth and health of old age,” explains Sebastian Rocks, a researcher at CNRS and co -author of the study. “The residents live intensively at first, but they pay for this pace later. It seems that the immigrants, on the other hand, are progressing more slowly.” With their long age (some of them live at the age of more than 50 years!) And the behavioral diversity, the flaming is more than just a distinctive animal in Camargue. It also provides an ideal model for understanding animal aging. “This is the complete goal of this long -term study. It started in 1977 in Camargue by marking Flameingos with episodes that can be read from a distance with a telescope, this program still allows us to monitor Flameingos tag that year,” explains Arnaud Bécheet and Joclyn Champagnon, the managers of the search for the Du Valat tour. “This is a unique data collection proving that it is invaluable to understand the aging mechanisms in animal groups.”

Revealing the secrets of aging, which is a scientific and existential endeavor

This discovery is part of the field of exciting research: aging, or biological aging. “Understanding the causes of changes in the rate of aging is a problem with researchers and philosophers who have been obsessed since ancient times,” commented Hugo Cayilla, one of the authors participating in the study and researcher at Oxford University. “For a long time, we believed that these differences have occurred mainly between species. But recently, our perception of the problem has changed. We accumulate evidence that, within the same type, individuals do not often advance the same rate due to genetic, behavioral and environmental differences.” By studying how some animals, reproduction and death are born, scientists hope to open the secrets of aging … to do so, trying to answer one of the most existential and central questions in biology: Why and how do we die?

About Du Valate Tour

The Tour du Vala is a research institute for the preservation of wetlands in the Mediterranean, based in Kamarge (France), with a recognition of the status of a private institution as a public interest. Tour Du Valaat was founded in 1954 by LUC Hoffmann, and has since developed its research activities with one anxiety: to better understand these environments – wetlands are the most abundant and most threatening on this planet – to better manage them. The Mediterranean wetlands persuade that they can only be preserved if human activities and the protection of natural heritage are walking side by side, Tour du Valat has developed research and integration programs for many years that enhance exchanges between users and scientists, fill a community of stakeholders and encourage the benefits of decision makers.