Table 3.

Definitions and descriptions for the grandmother hypothesis over time and authors.

Source	Definitions/function of the grandmother hypothesis
Shanley and Kirkwood (2001, p. 282)	“…menopause enhances fitness by producing post-reproductive grandmothers who can assist their adult offspring by sharing in the burden of provisioning and protecting their grandchildren.”
Hawkes (2003, p. 386)	“[mother-offspring provisioning enabled by grandmothers] creates a novel fitness opportunity for older females whose own fertility is declining. If the older females help feed their just-weaned grandchildren, the mothers of those weanlings can have shorter interbirth intervals without reductions in offspring survivorship. The more vigorous elders who have no nursing infants of their own will thus raise their daughters’ reproductive success.”
Hawkes et al. (1998, p. 1336)	“Long post-menopausal lifespans distinguish humans from all other primates. This pattern may have evolved with mother-child food sharing, a practice that allowed aging females to enhance their daughters’ fertility, thereby increasing selection against senescence.”
Peccei (2001, p. 434)	“In the old grandmother hypothesis, menopause is an adaptation facilitating grandmothering; it is about stopping early in order to create a post-reproductive lifespan. In the new grandmother hypothesis, grandmothering is an adaptation facilitating increased longevity, and menopause is a byproduct.”