Talk:Grandmother hypothesis

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Comment[edit]

Here's an interesting bit:

Both pregnancy and childbirth are extremely detrimental to the health and longevity of women. Pregnancy increases a woman’s caloric intake requirements

I'd like to note that there's some dispute over just how much your energy intake affects your longevity. Aubrey de Grey recently wrote a paper that casts doubt on the notion that eating fewer Calories will significantly prolong you. At the very least, the article should explain the link between calories and ageing, for those who are unfamiliar with the notion. —RadRafe 04:00, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

What about the fact that most societies were patrilineal? The women would go live in another society away from their mothers (the grandmothers).

*coughcough* Paternal grandparents *coughcough* 209.234.66.97 15:42, 18 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

cough cough indeed. This is completely anecdotal but my paternal grandmother was WAY more involved with me & my sisters than maternal grandmother... Tova2014 (talk) 03:30, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In addition to lacking proper citation, I have to question the general knowledge of the author who believes "topographical dangers such as falls from a height" would be a significant danger to the direct ancestral hominids, who, in addition to retaining a degree of aboreal aptitude, spent the majority of their existence on savannah plains and forest edges. Perhaps a reference to more likely socialy constructed effects of menopause should be offered as an explanation for "[the] high level of variability in menopausal symptoms across populations[.]"

Wrong way round[edit]

From the article:

"The grandmother hypothesis is meant to explain why menopause, rare in mammal species, arose in human evolution"

In actuality, the Grandmother Hypothesis purports to explain why menopause had been maintained, not why it arose. Mid-life infertility occurs because female animals run out of oocytes. It happens among any number of species. The question is, why, when human lifespans increased and other aspects of senescence began to occur later in life, did reproductive senescence not keep pace? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.60.1.105 (talk) 19:51, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

well said! Tova2014 (talk) 03:29, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Non-human species[edit]

I've come across an interesting BBC article here - "Whales and humans linked by 'helpful grandmothers' ". I don't feel sufficiently expert on the topic to incorporate this into the article, which seems to deal essentially with the human species, but others may wish to do so. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:34, 3 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

very interesting! I'm somewhat skeptical of the "grandmother hypothesis" since menopause occurs both in mothers AND non-mothers. I'm not a scientist but it seems to me this (anthropological) theory is a bit over-reaching. Tova2014 (talk) 03:28, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

updating chimpanzee research[edit]

I tried to insert references to two articles I found online, both mentioning the "grandmother hypothesis" and adding seemingly relevant research on chimpanzee menopause. Unfortunately the footnotes are a bit garbled. I hope someone will look at my edits and help with the formatting. Many thanks! Tova2014 (talk) 03:25, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]