« Cooperation and cheating in microbes: quorum sensing and persisters | Main | Grad school as an epic quest »

Menopause in whales

Someone who visited my recent blog on evolutionary aspects of menopause in humans led me to this short article in TREE (briefly discussed in the blog Gene Expression), which notes that, in many whales, female "reproduction ceases at approximately 40 years of age, although females routinely live on for several more decades." It's suggested that they help their daughters by providing wisdom.

Posted by R. Ford Denison on October 2, 2007 04:04 PM |

Comments

Just trying to read on about menopause in whales, fascinating. That I was shunted to a comment is a software problem, no?

Posted by: Don | October 5, 2007 12:35 PM

Sorry, Don. I was trying to be clever and put the punchline, "wisdom" below the fold. I've fixed it. See the TREE link for details.

Posted by: Ford | October 5, 2007 05:59 PM

Post a comment

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.