It has been suggested that highly social mammals, such as naked mole rats and humans, are long-lived due to neoteny (the prolongation of youth). In both species, aging cannot operate as a mechanism facilitating natural selection because the pressure of this selection is strongly reduced due to 1) a specific social structure where only the "queen" and her "husband(s)" are involved in reproduction (naked mole rats) or 2) substituting fast technological progress for slow biological evolution (humans). Lists of numerous traits of youth that do not disappear with age in naked mole rats and humans are presented and discussed. A high resistance of naked mole rats to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and brain diseases, and many infections explains why their mortality rate is very low and almost age-independent and why their lifespan is more than 30 years, versus 3 years in mice. In young humans, curves of mortality versus age start at extremely low values. However, in the elderly, human mortality strongly increases. High mortality rates in other primates are observed at much younger ages than in humans. The inhibition of the aging process in humans by specific drugs seems to be a promising approach to prolong our healthspan. This might be a way to retard aging, which is already partially accomplished via the natural physiological phenomenon neoteny.

中文翻译：

---

Neoteny，青春期的延续：从裸鼠鼠到“裸猿”（人类）。

有人提出，高度社会化的哺乳动物，例如裸mole鼠和人类，由于新生代（青春期延长）而寿命长。在这两个物种中，衰老不能作为促进自然选择的机制，因为这种选择的压力由于以下原因而大大降低了：1）一种特定的社会结构，其中只有“女王”和她的“丈夫”参与生殖（裸体）鼠）或2）用快速的技术进步代替缓慢的生物进化（人类）。提出并讨论了裸mole鼠和人类中不会随着年龄而消失的许多青年特征的清单。裸mole鼠对癌症，糖尿病，心血管和脑部疾病有很高的抵抗力，许多感染解释了为什么它们的死亡率很低并且几乎与年龄无关，为什么它们的寿命超过30年，而小鼠只有3年。在年轻人中，死亡率与年龄的关系曲线从极低的值开始。然而，在老年人中，人类死亡率大大增加。与人类相比，其他灵长类动物的死亡率高得多。通过特定药物抑制人的衰老过程似乎是延长我们健康期的一种有前途的方法。这可能是一种延缓衰老的方法，这已经通过自然的生理现象新生儿的部分完成。与人类相比，其他灵长类动物的死亡率高得多。通过特定药物抑制人的衰老过程似乎是延长我们健康期的一种有前途的方法。这可能是一种延缓衰老的方法，这已经通过自然的生理现象新生儿的部分完成。与人类相比，其他灵长类动物的死亡率高得多。通过特定药物抑制人的衰老过程似乎是延长我们健康期的一种有前途的方法。这可能是一种延缓衰老的方法，这已经通过自然的生理现象新生儿的部分完成。