From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Mon Nov 06 2000 - 18:26:41 MST
>Barbara wrote:
>> One theory of evolution of menopause in humans is that a woman would be
>> able to pass down more of her genes if she remained alive during a period
>> of time after her reproductive functions stopped. This would allow her to
>> help her daughters and sons take care of their children.
Emlyn wrote:
>This is the Grandmother hypothesis? I thought that was debunked.
Apparently. The numbers didn't work out.
>Although, I
>think my source might be LMG
It's mentioned in LMG. There's plenty of stuff out there for yr google
engine, e.g.:
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol22/22GSJ28d.html
< But a new study finds no evidence for this "grandmother hypothesis."
Reporting in the April 23 issue
of the journal Nature, three researchers suggest that menopause carries no
evolutionary benefit or
cost. Menopause, they say, is simply a consequence of aging, and how long
females live after
menopause depends upon how long a species needs to raise last-born infants
to the age of
independence. >
etc.
Damien Broderick
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:31:51 MST