Grandma’s Job is to Make Grandkids Eat
Grandma’s Job is to Make Grandkids Eat
Back in 1997, I read a most interesting piece by Ann Gibbons, a correspondent for Science magazine, on why human females live so long after they stop reproducing. Based on studies of African hunter gatherers, it seems that the evolutionary purpose of why women live after menopause is to make sure their grandchildren eat.
Simply put, the reasoning goes that while younger (fertile) women are busy having or nursing their constant stream of young ones, the grandmothers, by stopping to have kids of their own, now have plenty of time to look after …