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In his article, the scientist explains the “longevity bottleneck” hypothesis as follows: When dinosaurs dominated the Earth, much smaller mammals needed to be able to reproduce quickly to survive in conditions of constant hunting, so that a large population could compensate for the inability to live long. This means that Genes that provide longer lifespan may have been discarded during evolution.

Some of the earliest mammals were forced to live at the bottom of the food chain, and it probably took them 100 million years to survive the age of dinosaurs through rapid reproduction. I hypothesize that this long period of evolutionary pressure affects the way we humans age.
– says de Magalhaes.

A published study shows that our very ancient ancestors from the Higher Mammal Lineage (Eutheria) They lost some enzymes during the time of the dinosaurs; these were enzymes that repaired damage caused by ultraviolet light.. Even marsupials and monogamous mammals lack at least one of three enzymes known as photolyase. It’s hard to say whether this is due to their relatively short lifespan.

Another version of the loss of these enzymes is that mammals may have begun to lead a more nocturnal lifestyle to be safer and avoid meeting dinosaurs. So UV protection is no longer needed, and millions of years later we compensate for this with sunscreen.

There are other signs too. Take teeth, for example: Some reptiles, including crocodiles (and dinosaurs are now believed to have evolved from reptiles) can continue to grow teeth throughout their lives. But apparently people can’t do this; Again, perhaps as a result of millions of years of genetic selection. Additionally, cancer is more common in mammals than other species due to the rapid aging process. If it weren’t for the combination of all these reasons, we would probably live 200 years.

“We see truly amazing examples of repair and regeneration in the animal world.”de Magallanes adds that such genetic traits would have been unnecessary in early mammals.

Of course, many mammals, including whales and us humans, celebrate triple-digit birthdays. Understanding the factors of aging is always useful in combating age-related diseases such as dementia and stroke, and the genetics behind the “longevity bottleneck” has a lot to teach us on this subject.