Plugging these numbers into his model, Dr Croft showed that the diminution of fecundity in elderly females that this intergenerational competition creates, combined with the fact that the youngsters an elderly female is competing with are often her own daughters (so it is her grandoffspring that are benefiting), means it is better for her posterity if she gives up breeding altogether, and concentrates her efforts on helping those daughters.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
2017 January 14, “The evolution of the menopause: A whale of a tale”, in The Economist, page 74, column 3: