# Will a chimpanzee live as long as a human in a healthy, controlled environment?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-chimpanzee-live-as-long-as-a-human-in-a-healthy-controlled-environment/198009>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-chimpanzee-live-as-long-as-a-human-in-a-healthy-controlled-environment/198009 "2003-08-27T16:52:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-chimpanzee-live-as-long-as-a-human-in-a-healthy-controlled-environment/198009/1 "2003-08-27T16:52:03Z")

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In other words is is the life span of a chimp _naturally_ (genetically) shorter than human’s or not?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-chimpanzee-live-as-long-as-a-human-in-a-healthy-controlled-environment/198009/2 "2003-08-27T17:49:38Z")

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A chimpanzee will not live as long as a human no matter how well cared for. The maximum age in captivity is c. 55 years - and certainly apes in zoos are often pretty well coddled and receive good vetinary care. In contrast, the oldest confirmed human died at 122 years.

My last post in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207358) relates to the question. I speculate that greater life span of humans with respect to apes is due to our much slower development and maturation - but this is only speculation.