Chimpanzees in Uganda are the first known example of wild, nonhuman primates experiencing the hormonal changes, raising questions about how menopause evolved.
Female chimps living in an East African forest experience menopause and then survive years, even decades, after becoming biologically unable to reproduce.
Hormonal measures of fertility declined after age 30, and the researchers observed no births in chimps older than 50. A total of 16 Ngogo females lived past age 50, some into their 60s. Urine samples taken from 66 Ngogo females, ages 14 to 67, revealed a decline in fertility starting after age 30 that terminated reproduction by around age 50. Menopause also results in an end to women’s reproduction at about age 50, Wood says.
Another possibility is that older female chimps may possess experience and knowledge necessary for group survival. Related evidence suggests thatOr, the researchers suggest, an absence of predation by leopards due to human hunting in the 1960s, plentiful food sources and successful competition with nearby chimp groups may have supported a temporary emergence of long life spans among Ngogo females.
After these moves, aging females having kids become increasingly related to other breeders of both sexes and their offspring. At advanced ages, females with local kin — perhaps in ancient human groups as well as chimp communities — evolved to stop reproducing so that young females bringing fresh genes to the community could conceive new generations, the team suggests.
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Wild chimpanzees show signs of potential menopause—a rarity in the animal kingdomLaura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
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