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[CLKD]

   ……….. 

[Cazikins]

I haven't read this yet but I will do later:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37025092

[CLKD]

We seem to have 2 threads about this 

[Cazikins]

I read the article last night & to be honest it didn't seem to be of much interest to me as regards to the menopause. 

I mean I am childless (my choice) & this article covered mothers & grandmothers - so that may be the reason that I didn't get it, but it just didn't explain why whales have a menopause.

Maybe in the next life I will be a whale.... oh no but I can't swim. 

Cazi x

[CLKD]

You'll soon learn Cazikins once you R born directly into the sea 

I am childless by choice …….. I don't think that any other mammal has a menopause regardless of the article ;-).

[CLKD]

Bitches/queens don't as far as I know have menopause ……….. apes, mares thinking now, how to find out?

[babyjane]

Saw this on the lunchtime news.  I think the third species was one of the great apes

I heard it on the news at work today & they said 'two marine species', but didn't mention what the other one was. But they specifically said that apes and elephants can breed up to the end of their lives.

Pilot Whales, I stand corrected 

[CLKD]

Well - humans have monthly periods.  Which we know about.  Other mammals go into oestrus which means that they are 'ready' to mate.  The act of penetration releases the ovum which is why cats/dogs can have young, each one by a different father.  Rabbits the same, buck jumps on, 2/3 thrusts, falls off the doe.  Job done.  30-36 days later, kits are born.

Our does used to throw 11 at a time - as they aged, the litters got fewer and fewer until 1 kit would be born by which time it wasn't worth putting the buck in again.  Rabbits don't live long in the wild, our oldest bun was 11 years old.  Sadly he died of fly strike  for which I've never forgiven myself 

In the wild, dogs/cats - who knows.  How long do they live?  So my question is: do orga have oestrus in which case they probably don't have menopause.

[Scampi]

If we take 'menopause' in the strict meaning of the word (ie - cessation of menstruation), then I think orcas wouldn't have menopause as they never menstruate in the first place (that wouldn't be a strong survival trait when you share your living quarters with predators that can taste blood from over 2 miles away!!).

But, the article refers to 'post-reproductive life' rather than menopause - a feature we share with these whales.  We and the whales, alone (as far as we know) in the animal kingdom, live long and active lives after we cease to be able to reproduce (by whatever mechanism that cessation happens).  It doesn't try to explain why menopause happens - more why we live beyond menopause.

[CLKD]