Strangely enough, we don’t quite know. Only a few mammals regularly shed their entire uterine lining. 

According to one hypothesis, menstruation evolved as a defence against an invasion by paternal genes. Host Ilya Kolmanovsky talks to evolutionary biologists David Haig and Deena Emera about how mother and fetus are made to compete for resources in pregnancy. 

The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit our website: https://libolibo.me/  

This episode was produced by Andrey Borzenko, Danil Astapov, Anastasia Medvedeva, Kirill Sychev and Lika Kremer. Our sound editor is Alexei Vorobyov.

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