Molly Webster

There's like not a grand universal theory of post-reproductive females.

Okay.

And it's still just like a real open question of why we or orcas or chimps live this long post-reproductive life.

Right.

I mean, honestly, there's a part of me that's like, thank God, because if we had actually found an answer, it would have felt so prescriptive.

I don't know.

It makes me feel like it would have been kind of sad.

I agree.

I mean, I think it would be kind of limiting.

And I think the thing is, one of the things I've loved about this reporting process of the story isn't really learning the theories, which are kind of confusing in a lot of ways, but actually learning about these specific animals like Granny and Garbo and just imagining their lives.

Like, what do they do during that time?

And I feel like I've gotten to a point in my reporting where I'm much more interested in the what they're doing than the why does this happen, if that makes any sense.

And at some point, I also remembered that there is, of course, that third animal that goes through menopause and has a long post-reproductive life.

Everyone feels good, strong.

Yes.

And so I called up one of them.

Yes.

I mean, to be fair, Caroline also wrote an entire book that's basically a study of how women live their lives after menopause.

And so I went to her and I asked her like, OK, there's Granny, there's Garbo.

Now tell me about Caroline.