Male chimps apparently dig older females as reported recently in LiveScience. Young chimpanzee tarts cause nary a second look from the guys according to Martin Muller, an anthropologist at Boston University:

“The stereotypical view of human mating involves males wanting to be promiscuous and females being coy, but in chimps you see young females being very interested in mating with all the males, maybe going male to male and presenting their sexual swellings, sometimes grabbing their penis and playing with them, and the males just ignore them…”

Older females are more desirable according to various behavioral measures. The reasons for the enhanced attractiveness are speculative at this point, but may be due to increased fecundity and proven robustness and mothering skills.

In the line of “human imitates chimp,” we have this supremely authoritative anthropological treatise from ABC News: Are More Older Women With Younger Men?

As the undisputed matriarch of the Chimpanzee Refuge, I must shrug and wonder, “What’s the big deal?”