Reproductive function in aged female chimpanzees

Abstract

Reproductive function was evaluated in ten female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) aged 35–48 years. Forty-eight years is the longevity record for the chimpanzee. Data on cycle frequency and duration was available for seven animals. Most were cycling regularly until death, and all had experienced at least one menstrual cycle within one year of death. After exclusion of periods when the animals were pregnant or in postpartum amenorrhea, the mean cycle frequency (± standard error)/year was 9.54 ± 0.20 in seven animals aged 15–25 (432 cycles analyzed) compared to 8.6 ± 0.76 in the same animals at age 35+ years (405 cycles analyzed); this effect approached significance (p = 0.072, Mann-Whitney U-test). Cycle length of 16 cycles in each of seven animals aged 15–25 was 32.23 ± 0.38 days. The same animals when aged over 35 had mean cycle lengths of 35.59 ± 0.73. This difference was not significant, although cycle lengths clearly increased with age in some individual animals. In five aged animals for which mating data was available, appropriate exposure to a male occurred in 52 cycles, but only two pregnancies occurred; one pregnancy resulted in a live birth at age 38, the other in a stillbirth at age 40. This conception rate was 3.85% compared with 20% in the same animals aged 15–25. These data suggest greatly reduced fertility after age 35, although menstrual cycle frequency remained high. The persistence of menstrual cyclicity until death, which occurred due to natural causes at latest in the fifth decade, is in striking contrast to the human female in which menopause occurs in the fifth decade and death is often postponed for several more decades.