Discovering Darwin

In this episode Sarah, Mark and James continue their discussion of the book Bitch by Lucy Cooke where they explore menopause in humans and non-human animals and discuss those animals that have forwent males when they reproduce. The first conversation explored how orcas are an unusual mammal in that the males do not disperse from their mother's pod, but instead they retain a close relationship with their mothers. The ultimate momma's boy. Sarah discussed the various hypothesis for why women would actually go through menopause, and why it is an evolutionary puzzle. One of the hypothesis that Sarah thought had traction was the fact that human women at birth reduce their one million oocytes to about 300,000 at birth, and the number and quality of eggs continue to decline with age. The oocytes of a human female in stasis awaiting the monthly opportunity to develop into a fertile egg.We discussed why it is the female orca that experiences menopause and not the males. We finished the podcast discussing sin