For biologists, menopause is baffling. If natural selection favors genes that produce more descendants, why don’t women remain fertile their entire lives? The mystery has only deepened as scientists have looked for menopause in mammals in the wild and found clear evidence of it only in a few species of whales. That rarity has led some researchers to argue that menopause played a crucial part in the evolution of humans. After decades of observations in a rainforest in Uganda, they discovered that some chimpanzees go through menopause, too.

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Persons: ”, Kevin Langergraber, Langergraber Organizations: Arizona State University Locations: Uganda