Size of sexual swellings reflects ovarian function in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Size of sexual swellings reflects ovarian function in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
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DOI：
10.1007/s00265-003-0648-6
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发表时间：
2003-09-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Whitten, PL
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Emery, MA;Whitten, PL
虽然有许多理论存在于雌性灵长类动物的性肿胀信号的进化，在一些卡他鼻灵长类动物中发现的非常大和可变的sweat的意义仍然存在争议。正如Pagel [（1994）Anim Behav 47：1333-1341]所建议的那样，这些夸张和昂贵的信号有可能提供关于雌性生殖质量与雄性不同的信息。虽然Domb [（2000）Department of Anthropology，哈佛University，剑桥] and Domb and Pagel [（2001）Nature 410：204-206]提出sweep可以可靠地表明雌性之间的适应性差异，但我们假设它们可以表明雌性内部或之间当前的生殖周期质量。本研究探讨了卵巢功能之间的周期关系，通过粪便类固醇分析，和性分泌物的绝对大小，通过摄影测量方法产生的。十四个周期从8个圈养，群体生活的黑猩猩（潘troglodytes）表现出相当大的变化，卵巢类固醇水平和最大性肿胀的大小。几乎所有测量女性在一个周期中最大肿胀的方法都与早期卵泡和早期黄体雌二醇平均值以及黄体孕酮升高的持续时间相关。肿胀面积也与晚期卵泡雌二醇相关。鉴于过去的证据表明，卵巢功能的这些措施预测受孕成功，这些数据强烈表明，卵巢可以传达信息，以竞争男性的潜在伴侣的生育能力。
While many theories exist on the evolution of the sexual swelling signal in female primates, the significance of the very large and variable swellings found in some catarrhine primates is still debated. As suggested by Pagel [(1994) Anim Behav 47:1333-1341], these exaggerated and costly signals have the potential to provide information about differential female reproductive quality to males. While Domb [(2000) Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge] and Domb and Pagel [(2001) Nature 410:204-206] propose that swellings serve to reliably indicate between-female fitness differences, we hypothesize that they may indicate current reproductive cycle quality, within or between females. This study examines the between-cycle relationship between ovarian function, gauged via fecal steroid analysis, and absolute size of sexual swellings, yielded through photogrammetric methods. Fourteen cycles from eight captive, group-living chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibited considerable variability both in ovarian steroid levels and maximum sexual swelling size. Nearly all measures of a female's maximal swelling in a cycle correlated with early follicular and early luteal estradiol averages and the duration of luteal progesterone elevation. Swelling area was also correlated with late follicular estradiol. Given past evidence that such measures of ovarian function predict conceptive success, these data strongly suggest that swellings could convey information to competing males about the fecundability of a potential mate.