4 ms·
Crazy. Do birds suffer "old age" or do they just die?
by tus88 7y ago
Crazy. Do birds suffer "old age" or do they just die?
- riffraff 7y agoRelated: do birds not suffer from "menopause"?
- stevenjohns 7y agoI'm fairly certain only humans and a handful of whale species suffer from menopause or something like it. All other female animals are able to reproduce even into old age.
- rmdashrfstar 7y agoDo species in which females do not suffer from menopause have shorter average lifespans?
- jimnotgym 7y agoAnd is "suffer" the right word?
- wolfram74 7y agoMy understanding is that it is like many "bad" bodily functions and covers a spectrum, for some it's awful, for some a relief. No idea what the distribution is, though.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jessriedel 7y ago(Mostly in agreement with stevenjohns.) Menopause seems to be mostly restricted to some primates and whales: > Menopause has been observed in several species of nonhuman primates,[108] including rhesus monkeys[146] and chimpanzees.[147] Menopause also has been reported in a variety of other vertebrate species including elephants,[148] short-finned pilot whales,[149] killer whales,[150] narwhals,[151] beluga whales,[151] the guppy,[152] the platyfish,[citation needed] the budgerigar,[citation needed] the laboratory rat and mouse,[citation needed] and the opossum.[citation needed] However, with the exception of the short-finned pilot whale, killer whale, narwhals, and beluga whales,[151] such examples tend to be from captive individuals, and thus they are not necessarily representative of what happens in natural populations in the wild. > Dogs do not experience menopause; the canine estrus cycle simply becomes irregular and infrequent. Although older female dogs are not considered good candidates for breeding, offspring have been produced by older animals.[153] Similar observations have been made in cats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menopause#Other_animals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menopause#Other_animals
- yters 7y agoTangential: where are all the dead animals? There are plenty of animals around, even in an urban area, such as birds. But, I never recall running across dead animals, except road kill, or the dead mice and birds our cat would bring us. Is there an animal cemetery somewhere they go to bury themselves?