Demographic and hormonal evidence for menopause in wild chimpanzees

Among mammals, post-reproductive life spans are currently documented only in humans and a few species of toothed whales. Here we show that a post-reproductive life span exists among wild chimpanzees in the Ngogo community of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Post-reproductive representation was 0.195, i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2023-10, Vol.382 (6669), p.eadd5473-eadd5473
Main Authors: Wood, Brian M, Negrey, Jacob D, Brown, Janine L, Deschner, Tobias, Thompson, Melissa Emery, Gunter, Sholly, Mitani, John C, Watts, David P, Langergraber, Kevin E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
Animal populations
Animals
Aquatic mammals
Chimpanzees
Competition
Demographics
Demography
Ecological conditions
Estrogens
Evolution
Female
Females
Fertility
Follicle-stimulating hormone
Follicles
Food availability
Gonadal Steroid Hormones - metabolism
Gonadal Steroid Hormones - urine
Gonadotropins - metabolism
Gonadotropins - urine
Hormones
Human influences
Humans
Hypotheses
Life history
Longevity
Luteinizing hormone
Mammals
Menopause
Menopause - physiology
Menopause - urine
Monkeys & apes
National parks
Offspring
Ovaries
Pan troglodytes - physiology
Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii
Population studies
Populations
Predation
Primates
Progestin
Reproductive status
Steroid hormones
Survival
Uganda
Whales
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Among mammals, post-reproductive life spans are currently documented only in humans and a few species of toothed whales. Here we show that a post-reproductive life span exists among wild chimpanzees in the Ngogo community of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Post-reproductive representation was 0.195, indicating that a female who reached adulthood could expect to live about one-fifth of her adult life in a post-reproductive state, around half as long as human hunter-gatherers. Post-reproductive females exhibited hormonal signatures of menopause, including sharply increasing gonadotropins after age 50. We discuss whether post-reproductive life spans in wild chimpanzees occur only rarely, as a short-term response to favorable ecological conditions, or instead are an evolved species-typical trait as well as the implications of these alternatives for our understanding of the evolution of post-reproductive life spans.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.add5473