Disfunciones en primates no humanos. La discapacidad desde una perspectiva evolutiva

Abstract

A systematic and updated review of the literature on disability in non-human primates is presented. The information obtained shows that in several primate species, individuals with malformations and other abnormalities, congenital or acquired, have an important behavioral flexibility that in many cases allows them to survive and reproduce despite their limitations. In some cases, it has been observed that individuals with disabilities are cared for by their peers, particularly the offspring and infants. Mothers also show behavioral flexibility to adapt to the needs and rhythms of affected individuals. Caregiving in disability appears as an important feature of the social behavior of non-human primates. Therefore, a critique of the still prevailing theory of social Darwinism and its ideology of a world that improves based on competition and survival only of the fittest, a situation that has a negative impact on the treatment of people with disabilities, is raised.