Social Contact and Reproductive Cycles in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)

拟议的项目将系统地分析1975年至1989年间收集的关于坦桑尼亚贡贝国家公园自由活动的黑猩猩的原始数据。数据记录存放在达累斯萨拉姆，必须在那里进行审查。其目的是验证在圈养动物研究中产生的假设，即野生雌性黑猩猩的社交接触程度与生殖器肿胀模式之间存在相关性。众所周知，生活在一起的女性倾向于同步她们的月经周期(宿舍效应)，这表明社交是调节同步性的重要因素。实验室实验表明，黑猩猩发情肿胀的同步发生也是由社会接触介导的。这个项目将确定在自然条件下是否可以表现出类似的同步性，从而增加我们对黑猩猩生殖生命周期所涉及的机制的了解。

The proposed project will analyze original data systematically collected between 1975 and 1989 on free-ranging chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania. The data records are housed in Dar es Salaam and must be reviewed there. The purpose is to test the hypothesis, generated in studies of captive animals, that there is a correlation between the degree of social contact and the pattern of genital swelling in wild female chimpanzees. It is well known that human females who live together tend to synchronize their menstrual cycles (the dormitory effect), suggesting that social contact is the significant factor regulating synchrony. Laboratory experiments have indicated that synchronous onset of estrous swelling in chimpanzees is also mediated by social contact. This project will determine whether similar synchrony can be demonstrated under natural conditions, thus adding to our knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the reproductive life cycles of chimpanzees.