Menopause - in Other Animals

In Other Animals

Menopause in the animal kingdom appears perhaps to be somewhat uncommon, but the presence of this phenomenon in different species has not been thoroughly researched. Life histories show a varying degree of senescence; rapid senescing organisms (e.g. Pacific salmon and annual plants) do not have a post-reproductive life-stage. Gradual senescence is exhibited by all placental mammalian life histories.

Menopause has been observed in several species of nonhuman primates, including rhesus monkeys, and chimpanzees. Menopause also has been reported in elephants, short-finned pilot whales and other cetaceans, as well as in a variety of other vertebrate species including the guppy, the platyfish, the budgerigar, the laboratory rat and mouse, and the opossum, as well as some whales. However, with the exception of the short-finned pilot whale, such examples tend to be from captive individuals, and thus they are not necessarily representative of what happens in natural populations in the wild.