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Science 24 April 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5363, p. 516
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5363.516
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News & Comment

SOCIOBIOLOGY:
A Blow to the 'Grandmother Theory'

Ann Gibbons

Last February, anthropologists announced an evolutionary explanation for menopause: It's advantageous for human females to live long after childbearing to help feed their grandchildren, a notion taken from studies of hunter-gatherer societies. But now a study of old female lions and baboons, published in this week's issue of Nature, has found that in these species, grandmothers' investments in feeding and protecting their grandchildren had no impact on the youngsters' survival when compared to those lacking grandmothers.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)