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Thyroid hormone fluctuations indicate a thermoregulatory function in both a tropical (Alouatta palliata) and seasonally cold-habitat (Macaca fuscata) primate.

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Date
2017-11
Authors
Thompson, Cynthia L
Powell, Brianna L
Williams, Susan H
Hanya, Goro
Glander, Kenneth E
Vinyard, Christopher J
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Abstract
Thyroid hormones boost animals' basal metabolic rate and represent an important thermoregulatory pathway for mammals that face cold temperatures. Whereas the cold thermal pressures experienced by primates in seasonal habitats at high latitudes and elevations are often apparent, tropical habitats also display distinct wet and dry seasons with modest changes in thermal environment. We assessed seasonal and temperature-related changes in thyroid hormone levels for two primate species in disparate thermal environments, tropical mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata), and seasonally cold-habitat Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We collected urine and feces from animals and used ELISA to quantify levels of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (fT3). For both species, fT3levels were significantly higher during the cooler season (wet/winter), consistent with a thermoregulatory role. Likewise, both species displayed greater temperature deficits (i.e., the degree to which animals warm their body temperature relative to ambient) during the cooler season, indicating greater thermoregulatory pressures during this time. Independently of season, Japanese macaques displayed increasing fT3levels with decreasing recently experienced maximum temperatures, but no relationship between fT3and recently experienced minimum temperatures. Howlers increased fT3levels as recently experienced minimum temperatures decreased, although demonstrated the opposite relationship with maximum temperatures. This may reflect natural thermal variation in howlers' habitat: wet seasons had cooler minimum and mean temperatures than the dry season, but similar maximum temperatures. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that both tropical howlers and seasonally cold-habitat Japanese macaques utilize thyroid hormones as a mechanism to boost metabolism in response to thermoregulatory pressures. This implies that cool thermal pressures faced by tropical primates are sufficient to invoke an energetically costly and relatively longer-term thermoregulatory pathway. The well-established relationship between thyroid hormones and energetics suggests that the seasonal hormonal changes we observed could influence many commonly studied behaviors including food choice, range use, and activity patterns.
Type
Journal article
Subject
energetics
temperature
thermal environment
thermoregulation
thyroid hormone
Alouatta
Animals
Basal Metabolism
Body Temperature Regulation
Macaca
Seasons
Species Specificity
Temperature
Thyroid Hormones
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16138
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1002/ajp.22714
Publication Info
Thompson, Cynthia L; Powell, Brianna L; Williams, Susan H; Hanya, Goro; Glander, Kenneth E; & Vinyard, Christopher J (2017). Thyroid hormone fluctuations indicate a thermoregulatory function in both a tropical (Alouatta palliata) and seasonally cold-habitat (Macaca fuscata) primate. Am J Primatol, 79(11). 10.1002/ajp.22714. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16138.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Glander

Kenneth Earl Glander

Professor Emeritus of Evolutionary Anthropology
Primate ecology and social organization: the interaction between feeding patterns and social structure; evolutionary development of optimal group size and composition; factors affecting short and long-term demographic changes in stable groups; primate use of regenerating forests.
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