In Every Species, Adolescents Go Wild The risky behavior of teenagers has parallels in otters, gazelles, eagles and other animals—and helps them to survive as adults A sea otter in the northern Pacific. Photo: Michael Quinton/Minden Pictures By Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers Sept. 19, 2019 12:41 pm ET Off the Pacific coast, between San Francisco and Monterey, lies a treacherous area of ocean nicknamed the Triangle of Death. Sharks patrol these waters so intensely that all the local sea otters have learned to steer clear. All of them, that is, except the adolescents. Groups of these young otters frequently swim into the Triangle of Death. Some are attacked, but most retreat safely to a nearby cove—and then go back for more. The excursion might look like a death wish, but in the long run, these dangerous forays increase the odds that the otters stay alive. They start as “predator-naïve,” biologists say, and through these tests of daring they become “predator-aware” and eventually “predator-experienced.” At a moment of peak vulnerability, adolescent animals are hard-wired to take risks. The two of us have spent the past decade studying the natural world for insights into human health. For the past five years, we have focused our research on how living creatures grow up. Comparing the life histories of young animals, we’ve found striking similarities across species among those who are post-puberty but aren’t yet mature adults. Adolescent animals are more likely to take risks, gravitate toward same-age peers, practice courtship moves and stray from home—often sparking conflicts with parents and siblings. Transforming goslings to geese, joeys to kangaroos, pups to wolves and children to adults—we are both mothers of teenagers—is a common phase we call “wildhood.” We identified four essential sets of life skills that all adolescent animals, including the human kind, must master during wildhood—or else face serious, even life-threatening consequences. Whether high-school senior or humpback whale, the adolescent who doesn’t acquire at least a basic competency in each of these areas will be disadvantaged as an adult or have difficulty making it to adulthood. Safety. Dying accidentally is a particular danger throughout wildhood. Adolescent humans are far more likely to be killed by car crashes, gun violence, poisonings, suffocation and electrocution than older or younger people. They’re more likely to drink themselves to death and five times more likely to be the victims of homicide. https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-eve...shareToken=st1ee0aecb5fc94840856f5aedcac8320e