Baby on board: olfactory cues indicate pregnancy and fetal sex in a non-human primate.
Abstract
Olfactory cues play an integral, albeit underappreciated, role in mediating vertebrate
social and reproductive behaviour. These cues fluctuate with the signaller's hormonal
condition, coincident with and informative about relevant aspects of its reproductive
state, such as pubertal onset, change in season and, in females, timing of ovulation.
Although pregnancy dramatically alters a female's endocrine profiles, which can be
further influenced by fetal sex, the relationship between gestation and olfactory
cues is poorly understood. We therefore examined the effects of pregnancy and fetal
sex on volatile genital secretions in the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), a strepsirrhine
primate possessing complex olfactory mechanisms of reproductive signalling. While
pregnant, dams altered and dampened their expression of volatile chemicals, with compound
richness being particularly reduced in dams bearing sons. These changes were comparable
in magnitude with other, published chemical differences among lemurs that are salient
to conspecifics. Such olfactory 'signatures' of pregnancy may help guide social interactions,
potentially promoting mother-infant recognition, reducing intragroup conflict or counteracting
behavioural mechanisms of paternity confusion; cues that also advertise fetal sex
may additionally facilitate differential sex allocation.
Type
Journal articleSubject
chemosignalgestation
hormone
olfactory communication
reproductive signal
sex allocation
Animal Communication
Animals
Cues
Female
Genitalia, Female
Lemur
Male
Odorants
Pregnancy
Volatile Organic Compounds
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9493Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1098/rsbl.2014.0831Publication Info
Crawford, JC; & Drea, CM (2015). Baby on board: olfactory cues indicate pregnancy and fetal sex in a non-human primate.
Biol Lett, 11(2). pp. 20140831. 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0831. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9493.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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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Christine M. Drea
Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology
I have two broad research interests, sexual differentiation and
social behavior, both focused on hyenas and primates. I am
particularly interested in unusual species in which the females
display a suite of masculinized characteristics, including male-
like or exaggerated external genitalia and social dominance.
The study of naturally occurring hormones in such unique
mammals can reveal general processes of hormonal activity,
expressed in genital morphology, reproductive development,
and

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