Periovulatory changes in female sexual behavior and patterns of ovarian steroid secretion in group-living rhesus monkeys

Wallen, Kim; Winston, Linda A.; Gaventa, Suzanne; Davis-DaSilva, Maryann; Collins, Delwood C.

doi:10.1016/0018-506x(84)90028-x

Cited by 100 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…These and other findings suggest that ovarian hormones modulate female sexual motivation, with motivation being highest when estradiol levels are greatest (Wallen, Winston, Gaventa, Davis-Dasilva, & Collins, 1984). Furthermore, the extent to which female hormones influence female sexual behavior depends upon whether female sexual motivation is an important determinant of the occurrence of sexual behavior (Wallen, 1990(Wallen, , 2001.…”

Section: Sex and Social Context: The Rhesus Monkey Modelmentioning

confidence: 72%

Hormones and history: The evolution and development of primate female sexuality

Wallen¹,

Zehr

2004

Journal of Sex Research

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Sexual behavior is required for reproduction in internally fertilizing species but poses significant social and physical risks. Females in many nonprimate species have evolved physical and behavioral mechanisms restricting sexual behavior to when females are fertile. The same hormones producing female fertility also control these mechanisms, assuring that sex only occurs when reproduction is possible. In contrast to nonprimate mammals, hormones do not regulate the capacity to engage in sex in female anthropoid primates, uncoupling fertility and the physical capacity to mate. Instead, in primates, sexual motivation has become the primary coordinator between sexual behavior and fertility. This dependence upon psychological mechanisms to coordinate physiology with behavior is possibly unique to primates, including humans, and allows a variety of nonphysiological influences, particularly social context, to regulate sexual behavior. The independence between hormonal state and sexual behavior allows sex to be used for social purposes. This complex regulation of primate sexuality develops during adolescence, where female monkeys show both hormonally influenced sexual motivation and socially modulated sexual behavior. We present findings from rhesus monkeys illustrating how social context and hormonal state interact to modulate adolescent and adult sexuality. It is argued that this flexibility in sexual behavior, combined with a tight regulation of sexual motivational systems by reproductive hormones, allows sexual behavior to be used for nonreproductive purposes while still assuring its occurrence during periods of female fertility. The evolutionary pressures that produced such flexibility in sexual behavior remain puzzling, but may reflect the importance of sexuality to primate social attraction and cohesion.With respect to sexuality, I have often speculated on it, and have always concluded that we are too ignorant to speculate: no physiologist can conjecture why the two elements go to form a new being, and more than that, why nature strives at uniting the two elements from two individuals. (Darwin, 1861, in Darwin, 1903 In the preceding quote, Darwin's reference to "sexuality" was in the sense of sexual reproduction. We are, however, similarly ignorant about the behavior that accompanies sexual reproduction, the now conventional use of the term sexuality. What are the causes for engaging in sexual behavior? Why does sexual behavior vary across development and across species? What brings two individuals together so that their gametes can combine? We have partial answers to some of these questions, while answers for others remain elusive. However much of what is understood reflects the reality that sex is expensive, dangerous, and time consuming.

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Section: Sex and Social Context: The Rhesus Monkey Modelmentioning

confidence: 72%

Hormones and history: The evolution and development of primate female sexuality

Wallen¹,

Zehr

2004

Journal of Sex Research

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“…Although all anthropoid primate species, including macaques, can copulate at any stage of the ovarian cycle [Dixson, 1998], frequencies of copulations and other sexual behaviors are typically highest at mid-cycle around the presumed time of ovulation [e.g. Aujard et al, 1998;Bielert, 1986;Linn et al, 1995;O'Neill et al, 2004;Wallen et al, 1984]. For the Barbary macaque, Küster and Paul [1984] observed a higher incidence of copulations before the estimated time of conception as determined by backdating from the date of birth, but data on copulation rates in relation to defined stages of the ovarian cycle have not yet been described.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female ovarian cycle phase affects the timing of male sexual activity in free‐ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) of Gibraltar

Heistermann

Brauch

Möhle

et al. 2007

American J Primatol

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Although all macaques have a multimale multifemale mating system, the degree of promiscuity shown by the Barbary macaque is considered to be extreme in terms of both mating frequency and number of mating partners. How mating activity is distributed throughout the female menstrual cycle and whether or not copulations are concentrated around the fertile phase as in other members of the genus is, however, not known. To examine this, we collected data on rates of copulation throughout 29 ovarian cycles from 13 free-ranging females of the Gibraltar Barbary macaque population and related them to the time of ovulation and the female fertile phase as determined from fecal hormone analysis. In addition, patterns of male inspection of females and time spent in consortship, both indicators of female attractivity, were also analyzed. The results indicate that both mating behavior and female attractivity vary predictably with ovarian cycle stage. Rates of copulation were found to increase toward the time of ovulation, with a distinct peak of ejaculatory (but not non-ejaculatory) copulations occurring in the fertile phase. Additionally, we show that frequency of inspection of females by males and time spent in consortship were also highest during the fertile phase and that ejaculatory copulations and male pericopulatory behaviors were significantly correlated with levels of female sex hormones. Our findings indicate that the Barbary macaque shows a mating pattern during the cycle similar to that described for other members of the genus. More importantly, however, our study provides clear evidence that despite an extreme degree of promiscuity Barbary macaque males concentrate their reproductive effort to the fertile phase, implying that they are able to discern this period and that thus timing of ovulation is not concealed from them. Estrogen-related cues appear to be involved in the process of recognition of female reproductive status by males, but the exact nature of these cues and how male Barbary macaques use them remains to be clarified.

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“…When a female is sexually receptive (and estradiol levels and the number of synapses are high), certain behaviors-in particular, conspecific communication with males-might improve her ability to become impregnated by a better mate. Although the evidence for increased communication by fertile primates extends to nonhuman primates [e.g., marmosets (Kendrick and Dixson, 1983), macaques (Wallen et al, 1984;Lindburg, 1990), and gorillas (Patterson et al, 1991)], we know little about communication in feral rats. In laboratory rats, however, ultrasonic vocalizations and scent marking increase during proestrus (i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%