Dissertation Research: A Study of the Reproductive Biology of the Black-Handed Spider Monkey (Ateles Geoffroyi): Integrating Behavior and Endocrinology

尽管蜘蛛猴是一种众所周知的濒危灵长类动物，但人们对它们的生殖生物学知之甚少。研究人员面临的一个困难是，雌性蜘蛛猴缺乏明显的排卵视觉信号，因此很难确定雌性生殖周期的各个阶段。实验室技术的进步使研究人员能够从动物粪便中提取激素，为研究野生动物的生殖状况提供了一种非侵入性的方法。我建议结合激素和行为数据来研究蜘蛛猴（a. geoffroyi）的生殖生物学。初步研究将测量圈养群体（圣地亚哥动物园）尿液和粪便中的激素，以改进将用于本研究项目现场组成部分的技术。在为期一年的实地研究中，将收集巴拿马巴罗科罗拉多岛的A. geoffroyi的粪便样本以及行为和生态数据。本研究的结果将提供：1)第一次系统地研究雌性蜘蛛猴的排卵周期；2)有关环境可能对该物种生殖的影响的信息；3)首次测试雌性蜘蛛猴是否存在发情。

Little is known about the reproductive biology of spider monkeys (Ateles spp.) even though they are a well known and endangered primate. One of the difficulties faced by researchers is that spider monkey females lack an obvious visual signal of ovulation, making it difficult to identify stages in a female's reproductive cycle. Advances in laboratory techniques now enable researchers to extract hormones from the feces of animals, providing a non-invasive method to investigate the reproductive status of wild animals. I propose to study the reproductive biology of spider monkeys (A. geoffroyi) using a combination of hormonal and behavioral data. A preliminary study will measure hormones in urine and feces in a captive group (San Diego Zoo) to refine the techniques that will be used in the field component of this research project. During the one year field study, fecal samples as well as behavioral and ecological data will be collected from A. geoffroyi on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Results from this study will provide: 1) the first systematic study of the ovulatory cycle of spider monkey females, 2) information concerning possible environmental effects on reproduction in this species, and 3) the first test of the presence of estrus in female spider monkeys.