Culture and menstruation the ideal of synchronised tidal, lunar, menstrual and seasonal periodicities whose overall harmony (it is believed) confers spiritual power and fertility. To many, such cultural associations appear persuasive in view of the fact that in humans, the menstrual cycle quite closely approximates the moon's 29.5-day synodic cycle, unlike in chimpanzees (~36 days) or bonobos (~40 days). Statistical information from hunter gatherers is lacking, but where large-scale western studies focus on women's peak reproductive years—removing outlier values—the cycle length gravitates around 29.1–29.5 days, while the figure for women in their thirties shortens toward 28 days. In no extant human population has
Menstrual synchrony to menstrual synchrony, has been reported in several other mammalian species. Menstrual or estrous synchrony has been reported in other species including Norway rats, hamsters, chimpanzees, and Golden lion tamarins. In non-human primates, the term may also refer to the degree of overlap of menstrual or estrous cycles, which is the overlap of estrous or menses of two or more females in a group due, for example, to seasonal breeding. However, as with early human studies on menstrual synchrony, non-human estrous synchrony studies also were criticized for methodological problems. Subsequent studies failed to find estrous synchrony in rats, hamsters, chimpanzees,