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Female Killer Whales Take Leadership Roles After Menopause: Study

Turns out killer whales revere their grandmas, too.

After observing 102 killer whales in the wild, British researchers have determined that female killer whales become key leaders in their pods only after they age out of fertility, according to a study published in Current Biology on Thursday.

The reason, the researchers report, is that these older females know all the best places to find their favorite fish when pickings become lean.

as a comparison--

Menopause, it turns out, is quite rare in the animal kingdom: human women and only two whale species outlive their reproductive lives in a major way, says the study's lead author, Lauren Brent, an associate research fellow in animal behavior at the University of Exeter. Female killer whales typically become mothers between the ages of 12 and 40, but they can live for more than 90 years as compared to the males who rarely make it past 50.