Animals That Go Through Menopause: 6 Wild Species, Graded by Evidence

By The HRT Index Editorial Team · Updated September 2026

Animals that go through menopause include five toothed whale species and chimpanzees at Ngogo, Uganda, besides humans. The HRT Index's September 2026 review counts six mammals with strong evidence in wild populations. In one 2018 comparison, female killer whales spent 30.9% of adult life after reproduction; the median among its 48 listed non-significant species was 0.4%.

A seventh wild mammal is a candidate. And zoo animals tell a very different story. Here's the evidence, graded, with the free data. The six-species count covers this defined evidence set, not every animal ever reported to stop reproducing.

Key animal menopause statistics

1. Besides humans, six mammals in this review have strong evidence of menopause in wild populations: killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, belugas, narwhals, and chimpanzees in the Ngogo community of Uganda. (The HRT Index review of Ellis et al. 2024, Nature and Wood et al. 2023, Science, September 2026.)
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2. Female killer whales spend 30.9% of their adult years after reproduction ends, the highest wild non-human value in Table 1 of a 2018 mammal comparison. The measure is called post-reproductive representation, or PrR; theirs is 0.309. (Ellis et al. 2018, Ecology and Evolution.)
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3. In the 2018 study's Table 1, 48 of 51 listed species had a PrR share of 3.6% or less and no significant post-reproductive stage. Their median was 0.4%, calculated by The HRT Index. The article reports 52 species, but lists 51 in that table. (Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1; count note.)
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4. In the 2018 table, the female killer-whale post-reproductive share is 8.6 times the largest share among the 48 non-significant species (30.9% vs 3.6% for yellow baboons). (The HRT Index calculation from Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1.)
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5. Menopause evolved at least four separate times across five toothed whale species. (Ellis et al. 2024, Nature.)
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6. Toothed whales with menopause are predicted to have a typical maximum lifespan about 40 years longer (mean ± standard deviation: 40 ± 5 years) than female toothed whales of the same size without it. (Ellis et al. 2024; modeled difference, not years caused by menopause in an individual.)
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7. At Ngogo, Uganda, records for 185 female chimpanzees from 1995 to 2016 showed no births after age 50 and an estimated 19.5% of adult female life-years after reproduction. Urine from 66 females showed menopause-like hormone changes. (Wood et al. 2023, Science.)
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8. Chimpanzees at Gombe, Tanzania, had an estimated 0.6% of adult life after reproduction; Ngogo's 19.5% share was 32.5 times as large. (Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1; Wood et al. 2023; The HRT Index calculation.)
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9. Wild mountain gorillas at Bwindi, Uganda, spent 10% of adult life after reproduction in a 2025 study, and 7 of 25 females lived 10 or more years past their last birth. The study could not confirm menopause as the cause. (Smit and Robbins 2025, PNAS.)
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10. Three selected older wild–zoo comparisons give zoo PrR shares 12.4 to 49.4 times as large. Japanese macaques: 24.7% in zoos vs 0.5% in the wild. Using Ngogo instead of the older wild chimpanzee composite gives 1.15 times, not 12.4. (Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1; Ellis et al. 2018; Wood et al. 2023; The HRT Index calculations.)
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11. Five additional primates in this ledger have captive menopause or post-reproductive reports: rhesus macaques, Japanese macaques, western gorillas, Sumatran orangutans and Bornean orangutans. (Walker 1995; Atsalis and Margulis 2006; MacLachlan et al., online 2024; issue 2025; Wood et al. 2023, Table 1.)
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12. Resident killer whales whose maternal grandmother had died within the previous two years had a mortality hazard ratio of 4.5, versus whales with a living grandmother, at salmon index 1. This compares death rates over time, not each whale's chance of dying. (Nattrass et al. 2019, PNAS.)
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13. When resident killer whale mothers and daughters had calves at the same time, the older generation's calves had a mortality hazard ratio of 1.7, versus the younger generation's calves, in 43 years of records. (Croft et al. 2017, Current Biology.)
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14. Most unspayed female dogs keep having heat cycles throughout life, with gaps that may grow with age. (Hanim and Chotimanukul 2025, Journal of Veterinary Science.)
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On this page: The list · Look up an animal · Why counts disagree · Whales · Chimps and gorillas · Elephants · Dogs and cats · Animals that don't · How scientists tell · What it means for women · Method · Limits · Cite · Download · FAQ · Sources

Which animals go through menopause?

Six mammals besides humans have strong evidence in the wild in this review: five toothed whale species and chimpanzees at Ngogo in Uganda. One more wild mammal, the mountain gorilla at Bwindi, shows the pattern but isn't confirmed. Five other primates in the ledger have captive reports.

For this wild-mammal list, menopause means lasting loss of ovarian reproductive function with a long life afterward. Living after the last birth is related, but is not by itself a diagnosis. In people, doctors confirm it after 12 months in a row with no period and no other cause (World Health Organization). Whales don't have periods you can count. So scientists check other things: birth records, ovaries and hormones.

Most wild mammals studied this way do not have a long post-reproductive stage. They're like a shop that stays open until closing time. The strongest examples below close early and keep living.

Table 1. Animals with evidence of menopause, graded by strength of evidence

Animal	Where it was studied	What the evidence is	Share of adult life after reproduction	Our grade	Key study
Humans (Hadza hunter-gatherers)	Tanzania	Birth and death records	44.3%	Reference	Ellis et al. 2018
Killer whale (orca)	Wild populations	Birth and death records	30.9%	Strong, in the wild	Ellis et al. 2018; Ellis et al. 2024
Short-finned pilot whale	Wild-origin samples	Demographic data, plus ovaries	26.0% demographic; 15.0% ovary-based	Strong, in the wild	Ellis et al. 2018 (life tables; ovaries)
Chimpanzee	Ngogo community, Uganda	Birth and death records, plus urine hormones	19.5%	Strong, in the wild (one community)	Wood et al. 2023
False killer whale	South Africa and Japan, wild-origin samples	Ovaries and demographic data	14.0% demographic (combined sample)	Strong, in the wild	Photopoulou et al. 2017
Beluga	Wild-origin samples	Ovaries by age	27.0% ovary-based	Strong, in the wild	Ellis et al. 2018
Narwhal	Wild-origin samples	Ovaries by age	24.0% ovary-based	Strong, in the wild	Ellis et al. 2018
Mountain gorilla	Bwindi, Uganda	Birth and death records	10.0%	Likely, not confirmed	Smit and Robbins 2025
Rhesus macaque	Research colony; zoos	Blood hormones and ovaries; zoo records	17.8% (zoos)	Captive evidence	Walker 1995; Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1
Western gorilla	Zoos	Hormone cycles; zoo records	Number withheld†	Captive evidence	Atsalis and Margulis 2006; Wood et al. 2023, Table 1
Sumatran orangutan	One zoo female in Jersey; zoos	Ultrasound, blood hormones, tissue; zoo records	Number withheld†	Captive evidence	MacLachlan et al., online 2024; issue 2025; Wood et al. 2023, Table 1
Japanese macaque	Zoos	Zoo records	24.7% (zoos)	Captive evidence	Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1
Bornean orangutan	Zoos	Zoo records	Number withheld†	Captive evidence	Wood et al. 2023, Table 1
Asian elephant	Semi-captive timber elephants, Myanmar	Birth and death records	16.2% demographic	Post-reproductive life; menopause not established	Chapman et al. 2019

Source: The HRT Index Animal Menopause Evidence Ledger v1.1, compiled from the linked studies; checked September 29, 2026. Demographic percentages are PrR × 100. Ovary-based percentages are Phys-PrR × 100 under the stable-population model: a related but different measure, not a birth-record estimate. Verified zoo numbers come from Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1.

† A later table reports zoo PrR estimates for western gorillas and both orangutan species, but the original 2011 numerical appendix could not be checked. Those three numbers are withheld, not zero. The separate gorilla hormone study and single-orangutan case remain included.

Here's how to read that middle number. Picture 100 years of adult life, added up across a group of grown females. For killer whales, 30.9 of those years fall after the age marking 95% of lifetime fertility. That's the same fraction as close to 4 months of a year—not a yearly break from breeding. For the median of the 48 listed non-significant species in the 2018 table, it's 0.4 years out of 100, the same fraction as about a day and a half of a year.

The five toothed whales

Killer whales (orcas), short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, belugas and narwhals are the five whales with menopause (Ellis et al. 2024). All five are toothed whales, the group that includes dolphins. Big filter-feeding whales are a different group; the one tested in Ellis et al. 2018, the fin whale, had an estimated 0.6% of adult life after reproduction.

The proof isn't the same for each. For killer whales, scientists used decades of birth and death records. For belugas and narwhals, they looked at ovaries. Egg release leaves structures in the ovary called corpora. These can persist, so their pattern with age helps researchers estimate ovarian activity; they are not a perfect one-scar-per-egg lifetime counter. Ellis et al. 2018 used that method. Short-finned pilot whales passed both demographic and ovarian tests.

The false killer whale results differ by test. Photopoulou et al. 2017 reported a significant demographic PrR of 14.0% in combined South African and Japanese samples. The 2018 ovarian test of Japanese animals was not significant. The 2024 synthesis still includes false killer whales among the five species.

One name trips people up. "Pilot whale" is two species. Short-finned pilot whales go through menopause. Long-finned pilot whales don't, at least not across the species: their share in 2018 was 0.2%, and a 2020 genetic study used 1,522 whales in 22 pods to examine why the species lacks a widespread post-reproductive lifespan (Nichols et al. 2020). In the 2018 demographic table, short-finned pilot whales' 26.0% share is 130 times as large as the long-finned share of 0.2%.

Chimpanzees at Ngogo

Wild chimpanzees in the Ngogo community of Kibale National Park, Uganda, are the non-whale mammals with strong wild-population evidence in this review. Researchers followed 185 females from 1995 to 2016. None gave birth after 50. Hormones in 560 urine samples from 66 females looked like human menopause: the signals that push the ovaries (called FSH and LH) rose sharply after 50 (Wood et al. 2023).

That's one community. More on why that matters below.

The seventh candidate: mountain gorillas at Bwindi

In October 2025, a study of 25 adult female mountain gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, found a significant life stage after reproduction: 10% of adult life. Seven of the 25 lived at least 10 years past their last birth (Smit and Robbins 2025).

The authors are careful. Their methods can't tell menopause apart from other reasons a female stops having babies, like losing pregnancies. They call menopause "a highly plausible cause." That's why we grade it "likely," not "strong."

Five more with captive evidence

Five other primates show menopause or long life after reproduction in captivity in this ledger:

• Rhesus macaques. In a 1995 study of 15 females aged 8 to 34, six aged 27 to 34 were classified as postmenopausal, with high LH and low estradiol (a form of estrogen). Ovaries from four of them showed little or no egg development (Walker 1995). One of the six had signs of a possible isolated ovulation; the author still classified her as postmenopausal.
• Western lowland gorillas. In a zoo study, among 22 females aged 30 or older, about 23% had stopped cycling, and about 32% showed patterns that looked like perimenopause (Atsalis and Margulis 2006).
• Sumatran orangutans. One previously fertile zoo female in Jersey, about 50 years old, had low estradiol, high FSH and ultrasound and tissue findings consistent with natural menopause (MacLachlan et al., online 2024; issue 2025). That's one animal, not a rate.
• Japanese macaques and Bornean orangutans. Japanese macaques have a 24.7% zoo PrR estimate in Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1. Bornean orangutan post-reproductive survival is listed in Wood et al. 2023, Table 1, but its original numerical appendix could not be checked, so that number is withheld here.

Zoo evidence is real. It just answers a different question. It shows what can happen under captive conditions, which can change both survival and reproduction. It does not by itself show how common the same pattern is in the wild.

Look up an animal

Type an animal and see its row from our ledger: the grade, the setting, the number and the study. If an animal isn't in the ledger, the lookup says so. That means we have no study on it here, not that the animal has no menopause.

How many animals go through menopause, and why do sources say 3, 6, 7 or "dozens"?

It depends on the proof you require. This review counts six mammals besides humans with strong wild-population evidence. Add the likely Bwindi mountain gorillas and five additional captive primates in this ledger, and it covers 12 non-human mammals with those reports. That is a selected set, not a worldwide total. Older three-species answers reflect earlier evidence and narrower study rules—not one single source.

Table 2. What each common count actually counts

The count you'll see	What it counts	Source	What it leaves out
3 (humans, killer whales, short-finned pilot whales)	The three significant species in a study reporting 52 mammals (51 listed in Table 1)	Ellis et al., January 2018	Belugas, narwhals, false killer whales and chimps, included in other studies or by other methods
3 (short-finned pilot whales, belugas, narwhals)	Toothed whales with a post-reproductive lifespan among 16 species with ovary data	Ellis et al., August 2018	Killer whales, which had no ovary data in that study
5 whales (6 with humans)	Toothed whales classified as having menopause	Ellis et al. 2024	Primates
7 (humans, 5 whales, chimps)	The 2024 whale list plus the Ngogo chimps	Ellis et al. 2024; Wood et al. 2023	The 2025 gorilla study and captive findings
6 strong wild examples; 12 selected mammals in those categories (this page)	6 strong in the wild + 1 likely in the wild + 5 additional captive primates	The HRT Index review, September 2026	Other reported animals and animals not reviewed; not a total species count
"Dozens"	A broader definition based on when ovulation ends, using mostly captive data	Winkler and Goncalves 2023, Cell	How the same species does in the wild

Source: The HRT Index, from the studies linked in each row; checked September 29, 2026.

The answer keeps changing

Since 2017, the studies below have added or strengthened animal-menopause evidence.

Table 3. Studies that changed the answer

When	What changed	Study
2017	Evidence of a post-reproductive stage in false killer whales, from ovaries and demographic data	Photopoulou et al. 2017
January 2018	Study reports 52 mammals; Table 1 lists 51, with significant results for humans, killer whales and short-finned pilot whales	Ellis et al. 2018
August 2018	Belugas and narwhals added, from ovaries	Ellis et al. 2018
October 2023	First substantial, statistically significant wild non-human primate PrR with hormonal evidence: chimpanzees at Ngogo	Wood et al. 2023
March 2024	Five toothed whales included in one comparative analysis; menopause evolved at least four times	Ellis et al. 2024
October 2024	One captive Sumatran orangutan with signs of natural menopause	MacLachlan et al., online 2024; issue 2025
October 2025	Wild mountain gorillas at Bwindi: a significant life stage after reproduction; cause not confirmed	Smit and Robbins 2025

Source: publication dates from each study; checked September 29, 2026.

So if you read "only three animals go through menopause," check the date and the counting rule. Three was the number with a significant result in that 2018 study, not a census of all animal menopause.

Why zoo numbers run so high

Three selected older wild–zoo comparisons give zoo shares 12.4 to 49.4 times as large. But the choice of wild population matters: comparing the same zoo chimpanzee estimate with Ngogo gives 1.15 times. Captivity can change both survival and reproduction; these are comparisons between datasets, not a test of the effect of moving animals into a zoo.

Table 4. The same species, named wild comparison vs zoo composite

Species and wild comparison	Wild	Zoos	Zoo share divided by wild share
Japanese macaque (2018 wild estimate)	0.5%	24.7%	49.4×
Rhesus macaque (2013 wild estimate; population unnamed)	0.7%	17.8%	25.4×
Chimpanzee (five-site wild composite)	1.8%	22.4%	12.4×
Chimpanzee (Ngogo, Uganda)	19.5%	22.4%	1.15×

Source: zoo estimates, wild rhesus and five-site chimpanzees: Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1; wild Japanese macaques: Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1; Ngogo: Wood et al. 2023. Multiples calculated by The HRT Index; checked September 29, 2026. Each row uses its named source population, not all wild members of the species. The 2013 wild rhesus value has no underlying population reference in that table; raw zoo data are restricted.

For those Japanese macaque estimates, that's the same fraction as about 2 days of a year versus about 3 months of a year—not a seasonal pause in breeding.

This is the heart of an open debate. A 2023 Cell commentary argued that ending ovulation before death may be common in mammals, and it leaned on captive data; it also noted this measure rises "substantially" in captivity (Winkler and Goncalves 2023). Five researchers behind the wild studies replied in a 2024 preprint that captive data can't stand in for wild animals, and that menopause is rare (Chapman et al. 2024, bioRxiv). Both describe higher post-reproductive measures in captive datasets. They disagree on what those observations can establish about mammals in the wild.

Why do some whales go through menopause?

The 2024 whale analysis supports menopause evolving through longer lives, not earlier reproductive shutdown. Females reproduce for about as long as similar whales, but their typical maximum lifespan is predicted to be about 40 years longer (mean ± standard deviation: 40 ± 5 years) than in same-sized species without menopause (Ellis et al. 2024).

That longer life creates more time when grandmothers and grandchildren could both be alive. In the model, summed grandmother–grandchild overlap was about 2.9 times as large in menopausal species (1.04 vs 0.36 relative units). Each unit divides the summed overlap by the species' age at maturity; this is not time observed caring for one grandchild.

Here's what the family studies found:

Table 5. What killer whale family studies found

Finding	Number	Data	Study
Death rate after a maternal grandmother died within the previous 2 years, vs a living grandmother	Mortality hazard ratio 4.5 at salmon index 1 (the 1979–1982 mean)	378 whales with known grandmothers; southern residents 1976–2016, northern residents 1973–2016	Nattrass et al. 2019, PNAS
Death rate for older-generation calves when mother and daughter breed together, vs younger-generation calves	Mortality hazard ratio 1.7	43 years of resident killer whale records	Croft et al. 2017, Current Biology
Modeled summed grandmother–grandchild overlap, menopausal vs non-menopausal toothed whales	About 2.9 times as large (1.04 vs 0.36 units, scaled by age at maturity)	Comparative analysis across toothed whales	Ellis et al. 2024, Nature

Source: studies linked in each row; the 2.9 multiple is The HRT Index calculation (1.04 ÷ 0.36 = 2.89); checked September 29, 2026.

Put simply: an orca grandmother's help counts most in years when salmon are scarce (Nattrass et al. 2019). Older-generation calves also had higher mortality when mothers and daughters bred together. These findings support two linked ideas: helping relatives and avoiding reproductive conflict. The first two findings come from resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, so they aren't proof of one reason for every species.

Do chimpanzees, gorillas and other apes go through menopause?

One wild chimpanzee community does: Ngogo, in Uganda, where females spent 19.5% of adult life after reproduction and showed menopause-like hormones. Other wild chimp groups show almost none. Wild mountain gorillas at Bwindi show a likely case at 10%, while mountain gorillas measured in Rwanda did not.

Table 6. Same species, different place

Ape	Place and setting	Share of adult life after reproduction	Significant?	Study
Chimpanzee	Ngogo, Uganda (wild)	19.5%	Yes	Wood et al. 2023
Chimpanzee	Five wild sites combined	1.8%	No	Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1
Chimpanzee	Gombe, Tanzania (wild)	0.6%	No	Ellis et al. 2018
Chimpanzee	Zoos	22.4%	Yes	Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1
Mountain gorilla	Bwindi, Uganda (wild)	10.0%	Yes	Smit and Robbins 2025
Mountain gorilla	Rwanda (wild)	2.2%	No	Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1
Western gorilla	Zoos	Number withheld†	Reported in later table; original unchecked	Wood et al. 2023, Table 1
Sumatran orangutan	Zoos	Number withheld†	Reported in later table; original unchecked	Wood et al. 2023, Table 1
Bornean orangutan	Zoos	Number withheld†	Reported in later table; original unchecked	Wood et al. 2023, Table 1

Source: studies linked in each row; checked September 29, 2026.

† Original numerical appendix unavailable. These are missing values, not zero; the later report is identified rather than presented as an independently verified estimate.

Ngogo's share is 32.5 times Gombe's (0.195 ÷ 0.006 = 32.5). Same species. Different forest.

Why? Nobody knows yet. The Ngogo authors report no known major disease outbreak during the 1995–2016 demographic study period. A major outbreak followed in 2017. They ask whether the long post-reproductive lives there are a lasting trait or a response to good conditions (Wood et al. 2023).

In these comparisons, humans still lead. Ngogo chimps' 19.5% is less than half the Hadza share of 44.3%.

Do elephants go through menopause?

Elephants live long, but no elephant study we reviewed has shown menopause. Wild African elephants spent 3.5% of adult life after reproduction in the 2018 test, a result that did not pass the study's test for a long post-reproductive stage. The Myanmar semi-captive Asian-elephant study estimated 16.2% of adult life after reproduction, but the researchers say that is unlikely to be caused by the ovaries shutting down.

Table 7. Elephant evidence

Elephant	Setting	Finding	Menopause?	Study
African elephant (Loxodonta africana)	Wild	3.5% of adult life after reproduction; not significant	No evidence	Ellis et al. 2018
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)	Semi-captive timber elephants, Myanmar	16.2% of adult life after reproduction in the full-population model; ovarian shutdown is an unlikely cause	No evidence	Chapman et al. 2019

Source: studies linked in each row; checked September 29, 2026.

Elephant grandmothers can help while still having calves. In a study of semi-captive Asian elephants in Myanmar, grandmother presence was linked to better calf survival and shorter gaps between the daughter's births. The benefits did not depend on the grandmother having stopped reproduction (Lahdenperä, Mar and Lummaa 2016). Helping grandchildren alone does not establish menopause.

A note on names, since it shows up in summaries: an editorial first published online in December 2025 (2026 journal issue) describes "the African elephant (Elaphas maximus)," but Elephas maximus is the Asian elephant, and the study it cites is about Asian elephants (Gidlöf et al., online 2025; issue 2026). The two species shouldn't be mixed.

Do dogs and cats go through menopause?

No. Most unspayed female dogs keep having heat cycles throughout life, though gaps may grow with age. Veterinary guidance says unspayed cats do not have a normal human-like menopause either. An older cat may still get pregnant; that does not mean every older cat remains fertile.

• Dogs: A 2025 veterinary review says most female dogs keep regular heat cycles throughout their lives, with longer gaps as they age (Hanim and Chotimanukul 2025).
• Cats: A veterinary clinic's guidance says unspayed cats do not go through menopause; fertility may drop with age, but pregnancy stays possible (Badger Creek Veterinary Clinic).
• Periods: Dogs and cats don't menstruate the way people do (Winkler and Goncalves 2023), so missed periods are not a usable test in these species. Lack of menstruation alone does not prove that ovarian aging or permanent loss of ovulation cannot occur.

So an older, unspayed pet can still get pregnant. Questions about a pet's cycle, spaying or a pregnancy belong with a veterinarian.

Which animals don't go through menopause?

Most species listed in the 2018 wild-mammal comparison did not have a significant post-reproductive stage. In its Table 1, 48 of 51 listed species fall in that group; their median PrR share was 0.4%. That group includes lions, polar bears, African elephants, zebras, baboons and fin whales.

Here are all 48 non-significant species listed in Table 1. The paper reports 52 species overall, while that table lists 51. Northern muriquis appear in its methods table, but no PrR value for them is shown in Table 1; we have not filled that gap with a value from another study.

Table 8. Wild mammals tested in 2018 with no significant life stage after reproduction

Animal	Scientific name	Group	Share of adult life after reproduction	Age M: 95% of lifetime fertility (years)
Yellow baboon	Papio cynocephalus	Primate	3.6%	21
African elephant	Loxodonta africana	Elephant	3.5%	59
American bison	Bison bison	Hoofed mammal	2.9%	17
Mountain gorilla (Rwanda)	Gorilla beringei	Primate	2.2%	38
Moose	Alces alces	Hoofed mammal	2.0%	15
Olive baboon	Papio anubis	Primate	2.0%	23
Walrus	Odobenus rosmarus	Walrus (pinniped)	1.8%	24
Steller sea lion	Eumetopias jubatus	Seal or sea lion	1.7%	27
Polar bear	Ursus maritimus	Carnivore	1.3%	27
Leopard	Panthera pardus	Carnivore	1.2%	16
Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus amphibius	Hoofed mammal	0.9%	41
West Indian manatee	Trichechus manatus	Sea cow	0.9%	56
Chimpanzee (Gombe, Tanzania)	Pan troglodytes	Primate	0.6%	50
Fin whale	Balaenoptera physalus	Baleen whale	0.6%	95
Plains zebra	Equus quagga	Hoofed mammal	0.6%	19
Yellow-bellied marmot	Marmota flaviventris	Rodent	0.6%	12
Blue monkey	Cercopithecus mitis	Primate	0.5%	29
Collared peccary	Pecari tajacu	Hoofed mammal	0.5%	15
Japanese macaque (wild)	Macaca fuscata	Primate	0.5%	14
Antarctic fur seal	Arctocephalus gazella	Seal or sea lion	0.4%	17
Bighorn sheep	Ovis canadensis	Hoofed mammal	0.4%	16
European badger	Meles meles	Carnivore	0.4%	12
Lion	Panthera leo	Carnivore	0.4%	15
Meerkat	Suricata suricatta	Carnivore	0.4%	12
Raccoon	Procyon lotor	Carnivore	0.4%	12
White-headed capuchin	Cebus capucinus	Primate	0.4%	25
Cheetah	Acinonyx jubatus	Carnivore	0.3%	12
Himalayan tahr	Hemitragus jemlahicus	Hoofed mammal	0.3%	16
Lechwe	Kobus leche	Hoofed mammal	0.3%	11
North American beaver	Castor canadensis	Rodent	0.3%	13
Verreaux's sifaka	Propithecus verreauxi	Primate	0.3%	30
Arctic fox	Vulpes lagopus	Carnivore	0.2%	10
Australian fur seal	Arctocephalus pusillus	Seal or sea lion	0.2%	20
Brown bear	Ursus arctos	Carnivore	0.2%	30
Long-finned pilot whale	Globicephala melas	Toothed whale	0.2%	57
Northern fur seal	Callorhinus ursinus	Seal or sea lion	0.2%	21
Belding's ground squirrel	Urocitellus beldingi	Rodent	0.1%	8
Pyrenean chamois	Rupicapra pyrenaica	Hoofed mammal	0.1%	11
Red deer	Cervus elaphus	Hoofed mammal	0.1%	17
Reindeer	Rangifer tarandus	Hoofed mammal	0.1%	16
Ring-tailed lemur	Lemur catta	Primate	0.1%	16
Soay sheep	Ovis aries	Hoofed mammal	0.1%	13
Weddell seal	Leptonychotes weddellii	Seal or sea lion	0.1%	17
American red squirrel	Tamiasciurus hudsonicus	Rodent	0.0%	8
Banded mongoose	Mungos mungo	Carnivore	0.0%	10
Golden-mantled ground squirrel	Callospermophilus lateralis	Rodent	0.0%	7
Hawaiian monk seal	Monachus schauinslandi	Seal or sea lion	0.0%	28
Japanese serow	Capricornis crispus	Hoofed mammal	0.0%	20

Source: Ellis et al. 2018, Ecology and Evolution, Table 1. "Age M: 95% of lifetime fertility (years)" is the study's age M. Checked September 29, 2026. Chimpanzees, mountain gorillas and Japanese macaques appear here for the wild populations tested in 2018; other populations of each show more (see Table 6 and Table 4).

"Not found" means these wild populations, measured this way. It doesn't mean no female of the species ever stops. Some Japanese macaques do in zoos, for example.

An insect that comes close

A Japanese aphid has a menopause-like stage. In a Japanese gall aphid (Quadrartus yoshinomiyai), older wingless females stop reproducing and then defend the colony by gluing themselves to predators with sticky wax (Uematsu et al. 2010, Current Biology). It's a very different animal, but the same trade: stop breeding, help the family.

How do scientists tell if an animal is going through menopause?

They use three kinds of proof: birth and death records, ovaries and hormones. The strongest cases use more than one. Structures left in whale ovaries after egg release can help scientists estimate ovarian activity by age. They are not a perfect lifetime count of eggs.

Table 9. Three ways to spot menopause in animals

Method	What it shows	Used for
Birth and death records (PrR)	How much of adult life falls after the age marking 95% of summed age-specific fertility	Killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, Ngogo chimps, Bwindi gorillas, the 2018 comparison (51 listed rows)
Ovaries by age	Whether egg release stopped long before death	Belugas, narwhals, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, rhesus macaques
Hormones in urine, blood or dung	Whether cycles stop or hormones show ovarian aging; tests differ by species (for example, FSH and LH rise at Ngogo)	Ngogo chimps, rhesus macaques, western gorillas, one Sumatran orangutan

Source: methods described in the studies in Table 1; checked September 29, 2026.

Here's the PrR idea with real numbers from Ngogo. Females count as adults at 14. Age 47 marks 95% of its summed age-specific fertility. That means adding the birth rate at each age, not counting when 95% of observed babies were born. Out of every 100 adult years lived, 19.5 come after 47 (Wood et al. 2023).

One caution. A female that stops having babies hasn't necessarily gone through menopause. She could be losing pregnancies or not mating. That's why Bwindi is "likely, not confirmed": the authors could not establish the cause. The five whale species follow the 2024 synthesis; Ngogo adds hormone evidence. The labels describe this evidence set, not a universal diagnostic rule.

What about hot flashes? No study we reviewed measured hot flashes in wild animals. Symptoms like that are very hard to study in the wild, so research sticks to births, ovaries and hormones (Gidlöf et al., online 2025; issue 2026).

What does animal menopause mean for human menopause?

Humans still stand out. The three hunter-gatherer estimates below put roughly 43% to 44% of adult life after reproduction ends, above the selected wild non-human estimates in this page's demographic chart. In people, natural menopause usually happens between ages 45 and 55 (World Health Organization).

Table 10. Humans in natural-fertility settings

Group	Share of adult life after reproduction	Study
Hadza hunter-gatherers, Tanzania	44.3%	Ellis et al. 2018
Ache hunter-gatherers, Paraguay	43.9%	Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1
!Kung hunter-gatherers, Botswana	42.5%	Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1

Source: studies linked in each row; checked September 29, 2026.

The whale work backs an old idea about people, the "grandmother effect": long life after fertility can help a family survive (Nattrass et al. 2019). Some researchers now describe menopause as a shift from one role to another, not only a loss (Gidlöf et al., online 2025; issue 2026). None of this says anything about one person's treatment.

For the human numbers, start with the average age of menopause and what postmenopause means. For treatment questions, our guides explain how menopausal hormone therapy works and HRT benefits and risks. The full human picture is in our menopause statistics.

If you're in perimenopause or menopause yourself, the free Find My HRT Path quiz can help you sort out which kind of care fits before a first appointment.

How we built this

We checked primary papers, published abstracts and veterinary guidance, and pulled their findings into one ledger: 76 records covering 61 animal species plus humans, checked September 29, 2026. This is a compilation with our calculations, not a new animal study.

• What we collected: all 51 numerical rows actually listed in Ellis et al. 2018, Table 1; the additional primate and human comparisons traced through Wood et al. 2023 to Levitis et al. 2013, Table 1; and the ovary, hormone, genetic and veterinary findings linked on this page. We retained three zoo records but withheld their percentages because their original 2011 numerical appendix could not be checked.
• How we graded: “Strong, in the wild” covers the five whale species in the 2024 synthesis and the demographic-plus-hormonal Ngogo result. “Likely, not confirmed” is the Bwindi result, whose authors consider menopause plausible but could not establish it. “Captive evidence” describes the setting, not proof that a species can never show the pattern in the wild. Demographic-only captive records are not treated as hormonal diagnoses. The grades are our reading of this evidence, not a validated scoring system or complete species list.
• Math we did: percentages (PrR × 100), ratios (0.309 ÷ 0.036 = 8.58; 0.26 ÷ 0.002 = 130; 0.195 ÷ 0.006 = 32.5; 0.247 ÷ 0.005 = 49.4; 0.178 ÷ 0.007 = 25.4; 0.224 ÷ 0.018 = 12.4; 0.224 ÷ 0.195 = 1.15; 1.04 ÷ 0.36 = 2.89), the median of 48 listed non-significant PrR values (0.004, or 0.4%), and counts of distinct species by our categories. We did not rerun the researchers' survival models or reanalyze restricted zoo records.
• How to reproduce it: use records AMP-001 through AMP-051 for the 2018 table; select prrsignificant = no for its 48-species subset and median. Match the named populations before dividing values. Species counts use distinct scientificname values, not numbers of rows; humans are excluded from non-human totals. Table 4 and both charts have matching records and calculations in the companion metrics file. Keep demographic PrR and ovary-based Phys-PrR separate.
• How deep we went: full-text methods/results were read for the two Ellis 2018 papers, Ellis 2024, Wood 2023, Smit and Robbins 2025, Photopoulou 2017, Chapman 2019, Walker 1995, Nattrass 2019, Levitis 2013, Lahdenperä et al. 2016 and the comparative commentaries. The gorilla hormone study, orangutan case, long-finned pilot-whale genetic study, Croft 2017 and aphid report were checked at their primary published abstract or author-held abstract; only findings stated there are used. Veterinary claims are identified as guidance or review, not original field measurements.
• Independence: this reference has no affiliate links, provider recommendations or sponsored placements.

For demographic PrR, the basic formula is TM / TB: expected life-years after the end-of-fertility threshold divided by expected adult life-years. The studies do not all define adulthood B the same way. Ellis 2018 uses age at first reproduction; Levitis 2013 and Wood 2023 use the 5% cumulative-fertility threshold. These differences are one reason the comparisons are not pooled into a single species-wide rate.

Source differences kept visible

The 2018 mammal paper says 52 species in its text, but its Table 1 lists 51. We use the 51 listed rows for calculations: three significant results and 48 non-significant results. Its Results prose also gives PrR as 0.34 for killer whales and 0.43 for humans, while Table 1 gives 0.309 and 0.443. This page consistently uses the table values; it does not average the conflicting numbers or claim to resolve the paper's discrepancy.

The !Kung row uses the directly checked 2013 estimate of 42.5%. Wood's later table reproduces 42.6% from the 2011 paper; that original numerical appendix was unavailable. These are different published estimates, not a calculation of change over time. The three zoo percentages that depended on that same appendix are withheld. Their records and source trail remain in the ledger.

What this data does and doesn't show

• Different studies, different years. The listed 2018 species share a study method; zoo values and the 2025 gorilla value come from other studies. Even demographic PrR studies differ in where adulthood begins. We show each source rather than pool the numbers.
• Ovary findings have a different percentage. Beluga, narwhal and short-finned pilot-whale Phys-PrR estimates use ovarian activity, not births. They stay separate from the demographic chart. Growth-scenario ranges are not confidence intervals.
• A percentage of life-years isn't a percentage of animals. Ngogo's 19.5% is a share of adult years, not the share of females with menopause. Bwindi's "7 of 25" is a count of females. Don't put them on the same scale.
• One community isn't a species. The Ngogo and Bwindi findings are each from one place.
• Zoo findings do not by themselves establish a wild-population trait. Captivity can change reproduction as well as survival.
• One orangutan is one case. It can't give a rate or a typical age.
• "Not found" isn't "never." It means these populations, measured this way.
• Symptoms aren't measured. Nothing here tells you whether animals feel menopause the way people do.
• This is education, not medical or veterinary advice.

How to cite this page

The HRT Index Editorial Team. "Animals That Go Through Menopause: 6 Wild Species, Graded by Evidence." The HRT Index Research. Updated September 2026. https://thehrtindex.com/research/animals-that-go-through-menopause/

Dataset: The HRT Index Animal Menopause Evidence Ledger, version 1.1 (September 29, 2026).

Each key statistic has a stable section anchor and a linked source.

You may reuse our original tables, charts and calculations with credit to The HRT Index. The underlying findings belong to the researchers who published them; keep their credit and follow each source's own license terms.

Download the data

The full ledger is free, with no sign-up: animal-menopause-evidence-ledger.csv and animal-menopause-evidence-ledger.json. It has 76 records and 28 columns. Every record carries its source, source link and check date.

Columns: recordid · commonname · scientificname · animalgroup · setting · evidencelevel · evidencetype · prr · prrpctadultlife · prrsignificant · agem95pctfertility · sample · finding · limit · source · sourceurl · sourceyear · checkedon · physprr · physprrpctadultlife · scenariolow · scenariohigh · scenariometric · metricnotes · sourcelocator · sourcereadurl · verificationstatus · secondarysource_url.

prr is the demographic life-table share; physprr is the separate ovarian-activity measure. Each percentage field is its matching share × 100. agem95pctfertility is the age marking 95% of summed age-specific fertility, not 95% of raw birth counts. Scenario bounds are growth or age-sensitivity analyses, not confidence intervals. Blank numbers are missing, never zero; verificationstatus and metricnotes explain why.

Download the calculations and chart data. This companion file gives the inputs, units, population and calculation behind each displayed ratio, chart point and headline count.

Frequently asked questions

How many animals go through menopause?

This review identifies six mammals besides humans with strong wild-population evidence: killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, belugas, narwhals and chimpanzees at Ngogo. It also covers Bwindi mountain gorillas (likely, not confirmed) and five additional captive primates. Those 12 are a selected evidence set, not a complete count of animal menopause. Whale study. chimpanzee study.

Do elephants go through menopause?

No elephant study we reviewed has shown menopause. Wild African elephants spent 3.5% of adult life after reproduction in a 2018 test, which was not significant. The Myanmar semi-captive Asian-elephant study estimated 16.2%, but researchers judged ovarian shutdown an unlikely cause. African-elephant estimate. Asian-elephant study.

Do gorillas have menopause?

Possibly. Wild mountain gorillas at Bwindi, Uganda, spent 10% of adult life after reproduction in a 2025 study, and the authors call menopause a highly plausible cause but couldn't confirm it. In zoos, about 23% of 22 western gorillas aged 30 or older had stopped cycling. Bwindi study. captive-gorilla study.

Do female cats go through menopause?

Veterinary guidance says unspayed cats do not have a normal human-like menopause. Fertility may drop with age, but an older cat may still become pregnant; this is not a guarantee of lifelong fertility in every cat. Veterinary guidance.

Do dogs go through menopause?

No. Most unspayed female dogs keep having heat cycles throughout life, with gaps that may grow with age. An older unspayed dog can still get pregnant. Veterinary review.

Do orcas go through menopause?

Yes. Female killer whales spend 30.9% of their adult years after reproduction ends, the highest wild non-human share in the 2018 study's Table 1 (51 listed species; 52 reported in the paper). The table puts age M at 41: the threshold for 95% of summed age-specific fertility, not the age by which 95% of observed calves were born. Study table.

Do chimpanzees go through menopause?

One wild community does. At Ngogo, Uganda, no female gave birth after 50, and females spent 19.5% of adult life after reproduction, with menopause-like hormones. Other wild chimp groups show almost none, such as 0.6% at Gombe. Ngogo study. Gombe estimate.

Why do killer whales go through menopause?

Two findings support helping relatives and avoiding reproductive conflict. At salmon index 1, the mortality hazard ratio was 4.5 after a maternal grandmother had died within the previous two years. When mothers and daughters bred together, older-generation calves had a mortality hazard ratio of 1.7 versus younger-generation calves. These are death-rate comparisons, not individual probabilities, and do not prove one explanation for every species. Grandmother study. reproductive-conflict study.

Is stopping having babies the same as menopause?

No. Birth records show whether reproduction happened, not necessarily why it stopped. Hormonal or ovarian evidence helps test the cause. That is why the Bwindi gorilla result is "likely, not confirmed" and Ngogo has stronger physiological support. Gorilla study. chimpanzee study.

Do any animals get hot flashes?

No study we reviewed measured hot flashes in wild animals. Symptoms are very hard to study in the wild, so research focuses on births, ovaries and hormones. Comparative editorial.

Does any insect go through menopause?

One comes close. Older Japanese gall aphids stop reproducing and then defend their colony by gluing themselves to predators with wax. Original aphid report.

Sources

Source checks completed September 29, 2026, at the depth stated in How we built this. The original 2011 numerical appendix remains unavailable; its affected zoo percentages are withheld.

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2. Ellis S, Franks DW, Nattrass S, et al. "Analyses of ovarian activity reveal repeated evolution of post-reproductive lifespans in toothed whales." Scientific Reports 8:12833 (2018). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-31047-8
3. Ellis S, Franks DW, Nielsen MLK, Weiss MN, Croft DP. "The evolution of menopause in toothed whales." Nature 627:579–585 (2024). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07159-9
4. Photopoulou T, Ferreira IM, Best PB, Kasuya T, Marsh H. "Evidence for a postreproductive phase in female false killer whales Pseudorca crassidens." Frontiers in Zoology 14:30 (2017). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12983-017-0208-y
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7. Walker ML. "Menopause in female rhesus monkeys." American Journal of Primatology 35:59–71 (1995). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10590078/
8. Atsalis S, Margulis SW. "Sexual and hormonal cycles in geriatric Gorilla gorilla gorilla." International Journal of Primatology 27:1663–1687 (2006). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10764-006-9097-1
9. MacLachlan N, Routh A, Hunt G, et al. "Diagnosis of menopause in a captive Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)." Zoo Biology 44(1):87–91 (2025; published online October 22, 2024). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/zoo.21874
10. Chapman SN, Jackson J, Htut W, Lummaa V, Lahdenperä M. "Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive lifespans." BMC Evolutionary Biology 19:193 (2019). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12862-019-1513-1
11. Nichols HJ, Arbuckle K, Fullard K, Amos W. "Why don't long-finned pilot whales have a widespread postreproductive lifespan? Insights from genetic data." Behavioral Ecology 31(2):508–518 (2020). https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article-abstract/31/2/508/5697334
12. Nattrass S, Croft DP, Ellis S, et al. "Postreproductive killer whale grandmothers improve the survival of their grandoffspring." PNAS 116(52):26669–26673 (2019). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6936675/
13. Croft DP, Johnstone RA, Ellis S, et al. "Reproductive conflict and the evolution of menopause in killer whales." Current Biology 27:298–304 (2017). https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/59041
14. Winkler I, Goncalves A. "Do mammals have menopause?" Cell 186:4729–4733 (2023). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867423010802
15. Chapman SN, Ellis S, Lahdenperä M, Croft DP, Lummaa V. "Menopause has not evolved as a general trait in mammals: A response to 'Do mammals have menopause?'" bioRxiv preprint (2024). https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.29.582687v1
16. Gidlöf S, Engberg H, Jakson I. "Menopause in nonhuman mammals—What does it mean for the gynecologist?" Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 105(2):212–214 (2026; published online December 21, 2025). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12856693/
17. Uematsu K, Kutsukake M, Fukatsu T, Shimada M, Shibao H. "Altruistic colony defense by menopausal female insects." Current Biology 20(13):1182–1186 (2010; online June 17, issue July 13). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.057 — original abstract checked via the author institution record.
18. Hanim MS, Chotimanukul S. "Age-related canine reproductive health: impact on fertility and disorders." Journal of Veterinary Science 26(S1):S139–S156 (2025). https://vetsci.org/DOIx.php?id=10.4142%2Fjvs.25218
19. Badger Creek Veterinary Clinic. "Cats – Why It's Important to Spay or Neuter." Updated July 21, 2025. https://badgercreekvetclinic.com/cats-why-its-important-to-spay-or-neuter/
20. World Health Organization. "Menopause" fact sheet. October 16, 2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/menopause
21. Lahdenperä M, Mar KU, Lummaa V. "Nearby grandmother enhances calf survival and reproduction in Asian elephants." Scientific Reports 6:27213 (June 10, 2016). https://www.nature.com/articles/srep27213
22. Levitis DA, Burger O, Lackey LB. "The human post-fertile lifespan in comparative evolutionary context." Evolutionary Anthropology 22(2):66–79 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21332 — Table 1 and methods checked in the author-posted full text.
23. Levitis DA, Lackey LB. "A measure for describing and comparing postreproductive life span as a population trait." Methods in Ecology and Evolution 2:446–453 (2011). https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00095.x — main text checked; original Appendix S2 numerical download blocked. The three affected zoo percentages are not published here.

The HRT Index Research is an independent research and reference resource on women's midlife health, built from dated primary sources and transparent methods.