Across the animal kingdom, menopause is something of an evolutionary blip. We humans are one of the few animals to experience it. But Sam Ellis, a researcher in animal behavior, argues that this isn't so surprising. "The best way to propagate your genes is to get as many offspring as possible into the next generation," says Ellis. "The best way to do that is almost always to reproduce your whole life."
So how did menopause evolve? The answer may lie in whales. Ellis and his team at the University of Exeter recently published a study in the journal Nature that studies the evolution of menopause in the undersea animals most known for it. What they uncovered may even help explain menopause in humans.
Curious about other animal behavior mysteries? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
After being hunted for decades, humpback whales returned to the Pacific Ocean in big numbers. Now, new technology is revealing that underwater heat waves are taking a toll on that recovery.
New research suggests that vocal fry among toothed whales is what gives them the ability to echolocate, hunting down their prey with the loudest sounds produced by any animal on the planet.
A recent stranding on remote New Zealand islands left nearly 500 pilot whales dead. Scientists still don't know for sure why the events, also known as beachings, occur, but they have some ideas.
The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands. None of the whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanized.
The whales were found stranded on the remote west coast of Australia's island state of Tasmania. A marine biologist said the dead animals would be tested for toxins that might explain the disaster.
A stranded whale pod on Tasmania's west coast appears to be pilot whales and at least half are presumed to still be alive, local government officials said Wednesday.
Australian wildlife authorities are investigating the deaths of the whales, which were discovered Monday on Tasmania's King Island, off the southeastern coast.
Another six people who had been on the boat off New Zealand were rescued. A local mayor says the water was dead calm and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from beneath the boat.
A veterinarian said that during the rescue operation, the dangerously thin white mammal began to have breathing difficulties, and so experts decided to humanely euthanize the creature.