Molly Webster

Yeah, which was like not a word I knew, but maybe you know it, I don't know.

It's like a fancy way of saying that at a certain age, the reproductive system of these whales started to physiologically shut down.

And along with a lot of other observations about the whales and autopsies of beach whales, they were able to, like, confirm that these whales were going through menopause.

Okay.

That's my big reveal, Holly.

I guess I maybe would have expected them to go through menopause.

You're not surprised?

You're not surprised?

I don't know.

I'm like... Well, you kind of should be surprised because... Okay.

Actually, up until they figured this out about the whales, scientists widely believed that menopause was a uniquely human thing.

Really?

Out of like 6,000 some species of mammals, they thought we were the only ones.

And freaks because if you think about it scientifically, menopause is actually very weird.

Is this sort of you saying like this is weird or do you think scientists are like, yo, this is weird?

Okay, so this is a scientist.

His name is Kevin.

And Kevin says from an evolutionary point of view, no animal should have what he calls the substantial post-reproductive lifespan.

Substantial post-reproductive lifespan.

Fun phrase.