Multimodal Oestrus Advertisement in a Small Nocturnal Prosimian, Microcebus murinus

Buesching, Christina D.; Heistermann, Michael; Hodges, J. K.; Zimmermann, Elke

doi:10.1159/000052718

Cited by 82 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…However, even for hormone analyses via faecal samples, continuous access to the study individuals is required to determine longitudinal hormone metabolite patterns. This challenge in acquisition has resulted in the majority of studies monitoring endocrine activity on captive or semi-captive populations, rarely comparing their findings to free-ranging populations (Buesching et al 1998;Perret 1986;Williams et al 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female reproductive activity and its endocrine correlates in the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi

et al. 2015

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Steroid hormones play an important role in female reproductive physiology and behaviour and are often used to monitor important female reproductive events. However, such studies are often attempted on captive populations alone, delivering limited data. One such example is the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi, for which contradicting observational data exist between captive and free-ranging populations, while hormonal analyses have only been obtained from a single captive population. To extend and rectify the limited information, we monitored faecal progestagen and oestrogen metabolite levels across various important life history stages of both captive and free-ranging G. moholi. We additionally recorded changes 2 in vaginal state as well as the occurrence of reproductive and aggressive behaviour throughout the study. Data from our captive population revealed an ovarian cycle length of 33.44 ± 0.59 days (mean ± SD), with follicular and luteal phases of 14.2 ± 1.0 and 19.1 ± 1.5 days, respectively, and an average pregnancy length of 128 ± 3.3 days. The initiation of female reproductive activity was closely linked to an oestrus-related increase in faecal oestrogen metabolite levels. Four of the seven captive females monitored in our study conceived during the May mating period, with one additional female fertilised in September, supporting the idea that the September mating period functions as a back-up for female G. moholi. Identified benchmark faecal progestagen metabolite levels (non-pregnant: > 1 µg/g dry weight (DW), pregnant: > 9 µg/g DW) should help researchers to determine pregnancy-status of randomly wild-caught females in even a cross-sectional study set-up.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female reproductive activity and its endocrine correlates in the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi

et al. 2015

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“…Males respond to scent marks and genital marks by olfactory investigation or genital inspection. This behaviour is also observed in some strepsirrhines like Microcebus murinus [Buesching et al, 1998], in New World monkeys such as Callithrix jacchus [Dixson, 1986], and in macaques [Dixson, 1977], but rarely in apes [Dixson, 2012]. Chemical information concerning female attractiveness and reproductive status might be derived from genital secretions and/or urine [Dixson, 2012].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such cues are probably of the greatest importance among strepsirrhines and New World monkeys due to their olfactory sense being more developed than their visual senses [Swindler, 1998]. It might be a way for males to determine when females are ready to mate and, more significantly, to conceive [Buesching et al, 1998;Dixson, 2012]. In our study, genital inspection of males toward females occurred a few days prior to copulation, as well as after copulation and when the female was already pregnant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual Behaviour of the Spectral Tarsier (Tarsius spectrum) in Captivity

Hidayatik

Yusuf

Agil

et al. 2018

IJFP

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Tarsius spectrum is a primate species endemic to Sulawesi. Populations of the species have decreased due to habitat destruction and hunting. The sexual behaviour of T. bancanus and T. syrichta are known, but that of T. spectrum has not been reported until recently. The aim of this research was to study the sexual behaviour of T. spectrum in captivity. We observed 3 pairs of T. spectrum at the captive breeding facility of the IPB Primate Research Centre for 9 months using focal animal sampling. We showed that principal courtship behaviours were scent marking (36.7%) and genital marking for females (16.2%) and genital inspection for males (16.0%). Copulations lasted between 3 and 4 min, starting with the male mounting the female and thrusting quickly as many as 168–236 times followed by slow thrusting 9–20 times. When slow thrusting occurred, females vocalized up to 6 times. At the end of the copulation sequence, males remained motionless with their penis inserted within the female’s genitalia for about 31 s. Copulation occurred only once for each pair during the observation period. Our results should be useful to support breeding programmes and conservation actions for tarsiers.

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“…Besides the importance of the gray mouse lemur for biomedical research, mouse lemurs are also important for evolutionary research since they model the ancestral primate condition (Kessler et al 2014;Martin 1972;. Mouse lemurs resemble ancestral primates in being small, nocturnal, and living in dispersed social systems in dense forest environments where they rely mainly on olfactory and acoustic cues for social communication (Buesching et al 1998;Perret 1995;Zimmermann 2010) and prey and predator detection, localization, and recognition (Bunkus et al 2005;Goerlitz and Siemers 2007;Kappel et al 2011;Piep et al 2008;Siemers et al 2007;Sündermann et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hearing and Age-Related Changes in the Gray Mouse Lemur

Schopf

Zimmermann

Tünsmeyer

et al. 2014

JARO

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In order to examine auditory thresholds and hearing sensitivity during aging in the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), suggested to represent a model for early primate evolution and Alzheimer research, we applied brainstem-evoked response audiometry (BERA), traditionally used for screening hearing sensitivity in human babies. To assess the effect of age, we determined auditory thresholds in two age groups of adult mouse lemurs (young adults, 1-5 years; old adults, ≥7 years) using clicks and tone pips. Auditory thresholds indicated frequency sensitivity from 800 Hz to almost 50 kHz, covering the species tonal communication range with fundamentals from about 8 to 40 kHz. The frequency of best hearing at 7.9 kHz was slightly lower than that and coincided with the dominant frequencies of communication signals of a predator. Aging shifted auditory thresholds in the range between 2 and 50.4 kHz significantly by 12-27 dB. This mild presbyacusis, expressed in a drop of amplitudes of BERA signals, but not discernible in latencies of responses, suggests a metabolic age-related decrease potentially combined with an accompanying degeneration of the cochlear nerve. Our findings on hearing range of this species support the hypothesis that predation was a driving factor for the evolution of hearing in small ancestral primates. Likewise, results provide the empirical basis for future approaches trying to differentiate peripheral from central factors when studying Alzheimer's disease-like pathologies in the aging brain.

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Multimodal Oestrus Advertisement in a Small Nocturnal Prosimian, Microcebus murinus

Cited by 82 publications

References 17 publications

Female reproductive activity and its endocrine correlates in the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi

Female reproductive activity and its endocrine correlates in the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi

Sexual Behaviour of the Spectral Tarsier (Tarsius spectrum) in Captivity

Hearing and Age-Related Changes in the Gray Mouse Lemur

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