Serotonergic influences on life-history outcomes in free-ranging male rhesus macaques

2007 ◽  
Vol 69 (8) ◽  
pp. 851-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Howell ◽  
Greg Westergaard ◽  
Beth Hoos ◽  
Tara J. Chavanne ◽  
Susan E. Shoaf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Male Rhesus

CSF 5-HIAA, testosterone, and sociosexual behaviors in free-ranging male rhesus macaques in the mating season

1997 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T Mehlman ◽  
J.Dee Higley ◽  
Beth J Fernald ◽  
Floyd R Sallee ◽  
Stephen J Suomi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Mating Season ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Male Rhesus

scholarly journals Familiarity affects the assessment of female facial signals of fertility by free-ranging male rhesus macaques

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1723) ◽  
pp. 3452-3458 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Higham ◽  
Kelly D. Hughes ◽  
Lauren J. N. Brent ◽  
Constance Dubuc ◽  
Antje Engelhardt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Reproductive Status ◽  
Signal Discrimination ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Faecal Hormone Analysis ◽  
Hormone Analysis ◽  
Male Rhesus

Animals signal their reproductive status in a range of sensory modalities. Highly social animals, such as primates, have access not only to such signals, but also to prior experience of other group members. Whether this experience affects how animals interpret reproductive signals is unknown. Here, we explore whether familiarity with a specific female affects a male's ability to assess that female's reproductive signals. We used a preferential looking procedure to assess signal discrimination in free-ranging rhesus macaques, a species in which female facial luminance covaries with reproductive status. We collected images of female faces throughout the reproductive cycle, and using faecal hormone analysis to determine ovulation, categorized images as coming from a female's pre-fertile, ovulating, or post-fertile period. We printed colour-calibrated stimuli of these faces, reproducing stimuli perceptually the same in colour and luminance to the original appearance of females. These images were presented to males who were either unfamiliar or familiar with stimuli females. Overall, males distinguished ovulatory from pre-ovulatory faces. However, a significant proportion of males did so only among males familiar with stimuli females. These experiments demonstrate that familiarity may increase a receiver's ability to use a social partner's signals to discern their reproductive status.

scholarly journals Use of Introduction Enclosures to Integrate Multimale Cohorts into Groups of Female Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly L Bailey ◽  
Leigh Anna Young ◽  
Caroline E Long ◽  
Caren M Remillard ◽  
Shannon E Moss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Breeding Groups ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Female Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Male Rhesus

Integrating animals into a new group is a challenge for both free-ranging and captive adult male rhesus monkeys (Macacamulatta), and for females in groups receiving new males. To ensure the genetic viability of the population, however, maletransfers must occur in both natural and captive settings. To facilitate the introduction of groups of adult males to adult females, we designed a new enclosure that is attached to the outdoor compound where females are housed. Here we describethe construction of 3 introduction enclosures, their use during 4 introductions of groups of adult males to adult females, abrief comparison of introduction success rates associated with the new introduction enclosures with those of our traditionalmale introduction method, and a critique by the various groups of staff members working with the new enclosures. Overall, the introduction enclosures benefitted both the macaques and the facility personnel and appear to be a useful enhancementto our process of integrating breeding groups.

scholarly journals Physiological stress hormone levels and mating behaviour are negatively correlated in male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard McFarland ◽  
Ann MacLarnon ◽  
Michael Heistermann ◽  
Stuart Semple
Keyword(s):  
Macaca Mulatta ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Reproductive Competition ◽  
Stress Levels ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Male Rhesus

In order to understand the factors that cause and mediate stress in social animals, many studies have examined differences in male physiological stress levels between mating and non-mating seasons, and related these differences to levels of male-male competition. Very few have explicitly tested whether variation in stress levels is related to mating behaviour itself. We provide preliminary evidence of a negative relationship between faecal levels of glucocorticoid metabolites and mounting frequency in free-ranging male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). This finding may help explain the previous observation that male rhesus macaques show no difference in their levels of faecal glucocortocoids between the breeding and non-breeding season, despite the former being associated with elevated levels of aggression. Our study highlights the importance of directly quantifying mating behaviour when investigating the potential impact of reproductive competition and seasonality on stress physiology.

scholarly journals Urinary suPAR: a non-invasive biomarker of infection and tissue inflammation for use in studies of large free-ranging mammals

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191825 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Higham ◽  
Christiane Stahl-Hennig ◽  
Michael Heistermann
Keyword(s):  
Immune Activation ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Soluble Form ◽  
Surgical Trauma ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
Cellular Immune ◽  
Free Ranging

Studies of large free-ranging mammals incorporating physiological measurements typically require the collection of urine or faecal samples, due to ethical and practical concerns over trapping or darting animals. However, there is a dearth of validated biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation that can be measured non-invasively. We here evaluate the utility of urinary measurements of the soluble form of the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), for use as a health marker in studies of wild large mammals. We investigate how urinary suPAR concentrations change in response to viral infection and surgical trauma (inflammation), comparing it to the measurement of a marker of cellular immune activation, urinary neopterin (uNEO), in captive rhesus macaques. We then test the field utility of urinary suPAR, assessing the effects of soil and faecal contamination, sunlight, storage at different temperatures, freeze–thaw cycles, and lyophilization. We find that suPAR concentrations rise markedly in response to both infection and surgery-associated inflammation, unlike uNEO concentrations, which only rise in response to the former. Our field validation demonstrates that urinary suPAR is reasonably robust to many of the issues associated with field collection, sample processing, and storage, as long as samples can be stored in a freezer. Urinary suPAR is thus a promising biomarker applicable for monitoring various aspects of health in wild primates and potentially also other large mammals.

Infant handling enhances social bonds in free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Behaviour ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 154 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 875-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica S. Dunayer ◽  
Carol M. Berman
Keyword(s):  
Macaca Mulatta ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Early Handling ◽  
Infant Handling ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
The Relationship

Throughout the primate order, individuals are highly motivated to handle infants that are not their own. Given the differing and often conflicting interests of the various participants in handling interactions (handler, infant, and mother), most functional hypotheses are specific to particular handling roles. Here we explore one hypothesis that may apply to all participants, but that has received relatively little attention: that handling may facilitate the formation and maintenance of social bonds. Using free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago, we examine the relationship between infant handling in the early weeks and the strength and diversity of infant social bonds months later, when infant relationships were more independent from those of their mothers. Our results largely confirm the influence of several social characteristics (kinship, rank, sex, and age) in governing handling interactions. They also provide the first evidence that early handling is associated with later social bonds that are stronger than expected based on these social characteristics. However, the enhancement of bonds is largely confined to related handlers; frequent unrelated handlers did not generally go on to form strong bonds with infants. This suggests that kinship may be a sort of prerequisite to the enhancement of social bonds via handling. Given the adaptive benefits of strong social bonds among adult primates, future research should investigate whether early infant handling may have longer term fitness effects.

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