Post-Fertile Lifespan in Female Primates and Cetaceans

Abstract

Popular and scientific interest in menopause in humans has led to an Springer increased interest in the extent of post-fertile life in other animals, particularly in International long-lived social species such as other primates and cetaceans. Information on max- Publishing imum lifespan achieved and age at last birth are available from long-term observa- tions of known individuals from 11 primate species in the wild. Comparable information from wild cetaceans are more difficult to obtain; however there are relevant fisheries data, as well as a small number of long-term individual-based studies. Using post-reproductive representation (PrR) as a population measure of post-fertile lifespan that allows comparisons across populations and species, this review confirms that among primates, only humans have a maximum lifespan sig- nificantly longer than 50 years, and only human female life history includes a sig- nificant post-fertile stage of life. We conclude that although a prolonged post-fertile stage of life is very rare in mammals, it does occur in some exceptionally long-lived taxa, such as humans and resident killer and short-finned pilot whales. Thus meno- pause evolved independently at least three times in mammals, and the reasons for its evolution may differ in different lineages.