This is true not only of creatures you might expect, such as rabbits, but also of long-lived mammals such as Asian elephants, and of primates such as gorillas and chimps. Females of most other species can bear young until they die, and many do, or at best enjoy a brief respite from breeding before death. Most people don’t realize how unusual humans are, in the way that nonreproductive females (how shall I put this?) persist. And then, if she’s lucky, she has 30 or 40 years in which to do something else. Fertility, which typically ends in a woman’s mid-40s, occupies less than half of her adult life. Interminable or sweetly languid though they may feel in the moment, the childbearing years are startlingly brief. Sign up for it here.ĭon’t try to tell this to a mother sitting in the bleachers during a four-hour swim meet or enduring a birthday party involving toddlers and craft projects or resting in an armchair on a peaceful evening, savoring the heft of a tiny body and the scent of an infant’s freshly washed hair. This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday.
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