Data from: Variation in male reproductive longevity across traditional societies

Most accounts of human life history propose that women have short
reproductive spans relative to their adult lifespans, while men not only
remain fertile but carry on reproducing until late life. Here we argue
that studies have overlooked evidence for variation in male reproductive
ageing across human populations. We apply a Bayesian approach to census
data from Agta hunter-gatherers and Gambian farmers to show that long
post-reproductive lifespans characterise not only women but also males in
some traditional human populations. We calculate three indices of
reproductive ageing in men (oldest age at reproduction, male late-life
reproduction, and post-reproductive representation) and identify a
continuum of male reproductive longevity across eight traditional
societies ranging from !Kung, Hadza and Agta hunter-gatherers exhibiting
low levels of polygyny, early age at last reproduction and long
post-reproductive lifespans, to male Gambian agriculturalists and Turkana
pastoralists showing higher levels of polygyny, late-life reproduction and
shorter post-reproductive lifespans. We conclude that the uniquely human
detachment between rates of somatic senescence and reproductive decline,
and the existence of post-reproductive lifespans, are features of both
male and female life histories, and therefore not exclusive consequences
of menopause.