Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories - PubMed
- ️Thu Jan 01 1998
Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories
K Hawkes et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998.
Abstract
Long postmenopausal lifespans distinguish humans from all other primates. This pattern may have evolved with mother-child food sharing, a practice that allowed aging females to enhance their daughters' fertility, thereby increasing selection against senescence. Combined with Charnov's dimensionless assembly rules for mammalian life histories, this hypothesis also accounts for our late maturity, small size at weaning, and high fertility. It has implications for past human habitat choice and social organization and for ideas about the importance of extended learning and paternal provisioning in human evolution.
Figures
Modified from A. H. Schultz (1969) The Life of Primates (20), page 149.
Similar articles
-
Increased longevity evolves from grandmothering.
Kim PS, Coxworth JE, Hawkes K. Kim PS, et al. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Dec 22;279(1749):4880-4. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1751. Epub 2012 Oct 24. Proc Biol Sci. 2012. PMID: 23097518 Free PMC article.
-
Grandmothers' longevity negatively affects daughters' fertility.
Madrigal L, Meléndez-Obando M. Madrigal L, et al. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2008 Jun;136(2):223-9. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20798. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2008. PMID: 18322917
-
Limits to Fitness Benefits of Prolonged Post-reproductive Lifespan in Women.
Chapman SN, Pettay JE, Lummaa V, Lahdenperä M. Chapman SN, et al. Curr Biol. 2019 Feb 18;29(4):645-650.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.052. Epub 2019 Feb 7. Curr Biol. 2019. PMID: 30744967
-
Grandmother hypothesis and primate life histories.
Alvarez HP. Alvarez HP. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2000 Nov;113(3):435-50. doi: 10.1002/1096-8644(200011)113:3<435::AID-AJPA11>3.0.CO;2-O. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2000. PMID: 11042542 Review.
-
A critique of the grandmother hypotheses: old and new.
Peccei JS. Peccei JS. Am J Hum Biol. 2001 Jul-Aug;13(4):434-52. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.1076. Am J Hum Biol. 2001. PMID: 11400215 Review.
Cited by
-
Grandmothering in Cambridgeshire, 1770-1861.
Ragsdale G. Ragsdale G. Hum Nat. 2004 Sep;15(3):301-17. doi: 10.1007/s12110-004-1011-y. Hum Nat. 2004. PMID: 26190552
-
Female reproductive competition within families in rural Gambia.
Mace R, Alvergne A. Mace R, et al. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Jun 7;279(1736):2219-27. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.2424. Epub 2012 Jan 18. Proc Biol Sci. 2012. PMID: 22258635 Free PMC article.
-
Efficient sampling and noisy decisions.
Heng JA, Woodford M, Polania R. Heng JA, et al. Elife. 2020 Sep 15;9:e54962. doi: 10.7554/eLife.54962. Elife. 2020. PMID: 32930663 Free PMC article.
-
Reproductive aging patterns in primates reveal that humans are distinct.
Alberts SC, Altmann J, Brockman DK, Cords M, Fedigan LM, Pusey A, Stoinski TS, Strier KB, Morris WF, Bronikowski AM. Alberts SC, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 13;110(33):13440-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1311857110. Epub 2013 Jul 29. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013. PMID: 23898189 Free PMC article.
-
Evolutionary medicine: its scope, interest and potential.
Stearns SC. Stearns SC. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Nov 7;279(1746):4305-21. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1326. Epub 2012 Aug 29. Proc Biol Sci. 2012. PMID: 22933370 Free PMC article. Review.
References
-
- Feistner A T C, McGrew W C. In: Perspectives in Primate Biology. Seth P K, Seth S, editors. Vol. 3. New Dehli, India: Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers; 1989. pp. 21–36.
-
- Hawkes K, O’Connell J F, Blurton Jones N G. In: Comparative Socioecology of Mammals and Man. Standen V, Foley R, editors. London: Blackwell; 1989. pp. 341–366.
-
- Hawkes K, O’Connell J F, Blurton Jones N G. Curr Anthropol. 1997;38:551–577.
-
- Blurton Jones N G, Hawkes K, O’Connell J F. In: Comparative Socioecology of Mammals and Man. Standen V, Foley R, editors. London: Blackwell; 1989. pp. 365–390.
-
- Hawkes K, O’Connell J F, Blurton Jones N G. Curr Anthropol. 1995;36:688–700.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Miscellaneous