Menopause sets us apart from chimps.

CHIMPANZEES; REPRODUCTION; FERTILITY; WOMEN'S sexual behavior; MENOPAUSE; !KUNG (African people); THOMPSON, Emery

The article reports on chimpanzees. Humans and chimpanzees are very much alike but a distinguishing feature has been found: menopause. A study by Emery Thompson comparing the fertility patterns of six populations of chimpanzees with the modern hunter-gatherers of the !Kung people in Botswana, Africa. Both chimpanzee and human birth rates declined after 40 but chimps died of old age when less fertile whereas human females lived a long time afterwards.