The grandmother hypothesis is a theory to explain the existence of menopause, rare in mammal species, in human life history and how a long post-fertile period (up to one third of a woman's lifespan) could confer an evolutionary advantage.
Holding longevity constant, a female that undergoes menopause should have a lower total fertility rate, making menopause intriguing from an evolutionary perspective.
See also: patriarch hypothesisRead more about Grandmother Hypothesis: Background, The Grandmother Effect, Evidence For, Evidence Against, Conclusion
Famous quotes containing the words grandmother and/or hypothesis:
“And William had dudgeon for the sightless beadle
Who worshipped a God like a grandmother on ice-skates,
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As nobody since except W. B. Yeats.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“It is an hypothesis that the sun will rise tomorrow: and this means that we do not know whether it will rise.”
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