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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Aging and Fertility Patterns in Wild Chimpanzees Provide Insights into the Evolution of Menopause
Current Biology, Volume 17, No. 24, Year 2007
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Description
Human menopause is remarkable in that reproductive senescence is markedly accelerated relative to somatic aging, leaving an extended postreproductive period for a large proportion of women [1, 2]. Functional explanations for this are debated [3-11], in part because comparative data from closely related species are inadequate. Existing studies of chimpanzees are based on very small samples and have not provided clear conclusions about the reproductive function of aging females [12-19]. These studies have not examined whether reproductive senescence in chimpanzees exceeds the pace of general aging, as in humans, or occurs in parallel with declines in overall health, as in many other animals [20, 21]. In order to remedy these problems, we examined fertility and mortality patterns in six free-living chimpanzee populations. Chimpanzee and human birth rates show similar patterns of decline beginning in the fourth decade, suggesting that the physiology of reproductive senescence was relatively conserved in human evolution. However, in contrast to humans, chimpanzee fertility declines are consistent with declines in survivorship, and healthy females maintain high birth rates late into life. Thus, in contrast to recent claims [16], we find no evidence that menopause is a typical characteristic of chimpanzee life histories. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Emery Thompson, Melissa
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Jones, James Holland
United States, Palo Alto
Stanford University
Pusey, Anne E.
United States, Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Brewer-Marsden, Stella
Gambia
Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Trust
Goodall, Jane M.
United States, Washington, D.c.
The Jane Goodall Institute
Marsden, David
Gambia
Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Trust
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
Japan, Kyoto
Kyoto University
Nishida, Toshisada
Japan, Kyoto
Kyoto University
Japan, Inuyama
Japan Monkey Center
Reynolds, Vernon
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Sugiyama, Yukimaru
Japan, Kyoto
Kyoto University
Wrangham, Richard W.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard University
Statistics
Citations: 243
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 8
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.cub.2007.11.033
ISSN:
09609822
Research Areas
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Participants Gender
Female