An experimental test of the ovulatory homolog model of female orgasm

Pavličev, Mihaela; Zupan, Andreja Moset; Barry, Amanda; Walters, Savannah; Milano, Kristin M.; Kliman, Harvey J.; Wagner, Günter P.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1910295116

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…For instance, 14 of the 18 pups of the captive-born females were conceived during the first random mating with males or at any time when they mate. Therefore, we suggest that pangolins may practice copulation-induced ovulation like European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) 23 , 24 , which could be a strategy to enhance their reproductive rate. We also observed that female pangolins could conceive shortly after giving birth or the death of their pups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful captive breeding of a Malayan pangolin population to the third filial generation

Yan¹,

Zeng²,

Jia³

et al. 2021

Commun Biol

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Pangolins are threatened placental mammals distributed in Africa and Asia. Many efforts have been undertaken in the last century to maintain pangolins in captivity, but only a few of them succeeded in maintaining and keeping this species in a controlled environment. This study reports the first systematic breeding of the Critically Endangered Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica) in captivity. Our captive breeding approach successfully improved the reproductive rate for both wild and captive-born female pangolins. From 2016 to 2020, we had 33 wild pangolins and produced 49 captive-born offspring spanning three filial generations. The female offspring further bred 18 offspring, of which 14 (78%) were conceived during the first time of cohabitation with males, and four offspring were conceived during the second cohabitation event, suggesting that they may practice copulation-induced ovulation. We observed that captive-born female pangolins could reach sexual maturity at 7–9 months (n = 4), and male pangolins could mate and successfully fertilise females at nine months age (n = 1). We also observed a female pangolin conceiving on the eighth day after parturition (the fifth day after the death of its pup). Our captive pangolins had a female-biased sex ratio of 1:0.5 at birth, unlike other known captive-born mammals. Also, captive-born pangolins were generally more viable after successful weaning and had a similar gestation length (~185 days) to wild pangolins. Most importantly, we report the first self-sustaining captive population of Malayan pangolins, and this species has an efficient reproduction strategy. These advances provide more comprehensive information for people to understand pangolins, and have implications for conserving endangered Malayan pangolins and providing scientific guidance to the management of other pangolin species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful captive breeding of a Malayan pangolin population to the third filial generation

Yan¹,

Zeng²,

Jia³

et al. 2021

Commun Biol

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“…Evolutionary explanations have tended to implicitly or explicitly consider the female orgasm as a uniquely human (or, at most, primate) trait. In a series of recent papers, Mihaela Pavličev and Günter Wagner have revised this assumption and revisited the evolutionary enigma of the female orgasm from a comparative scope (Pavličev & Wagner, 2016 ; Wagner & Pavličev, 2017 ; Pavličev et al, 2019 ). Pavličev and Wagner follow Lloyd's critique of adaptationism and bet for “homology thinking” as an alternative explanatory approach to the evolution of the female orgasm (Wagner & Pavličev, 2017 , pp.…”

Section: Back To Phylogenetic Homology: the Ovulatory‐homolog Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

The female orgasm and the homology concept in evolutionary biology

Basanta

Rosa

2022

Journal of Morphology

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The definition of homology and its application to reproductive structures, external genitalia, and the physiology of sexual pleasure has a tortuous history. While nowadays there is a consensus on the developmental homology of genital and reproductive systems, there is no agreement on the physiological translation, or the evolutionary origination and roles, of these structural correspondences and their divergent histories. This paper analyzes the impact of evolutionary perspectives on the homology concept as applied to the female orgasm, and their consequences for the biological and social understanding of female sexuality and reproduction. After a survey of the history of pre‐evolutionary biomedical views on sexual difference and sexual pleasure, we examine how the concept of sexual homology was shaped in the new phylogenetic framework of the late 19th century. We then analyse the debates on the anatomical locus of female pleasure at the crossroads of theories of sexual evolution and new scientific discourses in psychoanalysis and sex studies. Moving back to evolutionary biology, we explore the consequences of neglecting homology in adaptive explanations of the female orgasm. The last two sections investigate the role played by different articulations of the homology concept in evolutionary developmental explanations of the origin and evolution of the female orgasm. These include the role of sexual, developmental homology in the byproduct hypothesis, and a more recent hypothesis where a phylogenetic, physiological concept of homology is used to account for the origination of the female orgasm. We conclude with a brief discussion on the social implications for the understanding of female pleasure derived from these different homology frameworks.

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“…Additional difficulty is that a large part of the relevant anatomical literature was published in German (and perhaps other languages), such that a large knowledge base is difficult to access for many researchers. As these and other reasons for the lack of attention to clitoral anatomy are being increasingly overcome in recent decades, we observe intensified research into the details of the female reproductive anatomy, its function and evolution ( Puppo 2013 ; Cunha et al 2014 ; Lima et al 2015 ; Pavlicev and Wagner 2016 ; Sinclair et al 2017 ; Orbach et al 2019 ; Pavlicev et al 2019 ; Levin 2019 ; Orbach et al 2021 ; Brennan et al 2022 ). To further foster this direction of research, we aim at summarizing the comparative anatomical information currently available.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, comparative genital anatomy, when combined with other characteristics of mammalian reproduction such as ovarian cycle characteristics and social structure, forms the basis for understanding female genital function and sexuality, as well as their evolution. Our own interest in this area was sparked by the apparent correlation between the nature of the ovarian cycle and genital anatomy, in particular the type of ovulation and the presence of the urogenital sinus (UGS: Pavlicev and Wagner 2016 ; Pavlicev et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Genital Variation Far Exceeds That of Male Genitalia: A Review of Comparative Anatomy of Clitoris and the Female Lower Reproductive Tract in Theria

Pavličev

Herdina

Wagner

2022

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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A review of the literature on the anatomy of the lower female genital tract in therian mammals reveals, contrary to the general perception, a large amount of inter-specific variation. Variation in female external genitalia is anatomically more radical than that in the male genitalia. It includes the absence of whole anatomical units, like the cervix in many Xenarthra, or the absence of the urogenital sinus (UGS), as well as the complete spatial separation of the external clitoral parts from the genital canal (either vagina or UGS). A preliminary phylogenetic analysis shows two patterns. Some morphs are unique to early branching clades, like the absence of the cervix, while others arose multiple times independently, like the flattening out or loss of the UGS, or the extreme elongation of the clitoris. Based on available information, the ancestral eutherian configuration of the external female genitalia included a cervix, a single vaginal segment, a tubular UGS, and an unperforated clitoris close to the entrance of the genital canal. The evidence for either bilobed or unitary glandes clitorides is ambivalent. Despite the wealth of information available, many gaps in knowledge remain and will require a community-wide effort to come to a more robust model of female genital evolutionary patterns.

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An experimental test of the ovulatory homolog model of female orgasm

Cited by 14 publications

References 52 publications

Successful captive breeding of a Malayan pangolin population to the third filial generation

Successful captive breeding of a Malayan pangolin population to the third filial generation

The female orgasm and the homology concept in evolutionary biology

Female Genital Variation Far Exceeds That of Male Genitalia: A Review of Comparative Anatomy of Clitoris and the Female Lower Reproductive Tract in Theria

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