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Baby on board: olfactory cues indicate pregnancy and fetal sex in a non-human primate.

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Date
2015-02
Authors
Crawford, JC
Drea, CM
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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 article
Subject
chemosignal
gestation
hormone
olfactory communication
reproductive signal
sex allocation
Animal Communication
Animals
Cues
Female
Genitalia, Female
Lemur
Male
Odorants
Pregnancy
Volatile Organic Compounds
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9493
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1098/rsbl.2014.0831
Publication 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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Scholars@Duke

Drea

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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