an588{at}freenet.carleton.ca (Catherine Woodgold) wrote in news:ckn2ie$1v38$1
{at}darwin.ediacara.org:

> Elaine Jackson (elainejackson7355{at}home.com) writes:
>>>From an evolutionary standpoint, how does one explain decrepitude?
> 
> ... However, menopause is not decrepitude but is a useful stage
> of maturation.  Other animals don't have that, but in humans,
> older women contribute[d] to society by working, teaching, breastfeeding
> etc. 

Interestingly, menopause also occurs in pilot whales and killer whales

 For various reasons 
> ability to survive giving birth and have a high probability of
> a healthy baby necessarily declines (slightly?) with age,
> so evolution found it more useful to have menopause even at an
> age when there would be a fairly high possibility of having
> a healthy baby if menopause didn't occur

Larry Moran would argue that menopause in humans is due to drift. Depending 
on when it appeared in humans, I might agree with him.
But if the correct explanation is  adaptive, you have described it well.

Yours,

Bill Morse
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