Sara Fontani, Gale Glendewar, Rachel Cowen, Georgia Callagan, Anna B. Costantini, Emily Elwell, Colin Dubreuil, Matthew Palframan, Stefano Vaglio
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Alaotran gentle lemur (Hapalemur Alaotrensis) is one of the most endangered primates in the world and shows a low success rate in captive breeding programmes. We tested a novel scent enrichment, made up of a synthesized mixture likely conveying information about female fertility, on four unsuccessful breeding pairs (n = 8 subjects) living at the Jersey, Birmingham, London (United Kingdom) and Mulhouse (France) zoos. We evaluated the effects of the scent enrichment on behavior (515 h of observation) and fecal endocrinology (cortisol and testosterone measurements) (n = 180 samples) comparing pre- enrichment, enrichment and post- enrichment phases. We found a small effect by sex on olfactory behaviors related to the enrichment. We also found that both male and female sexual behaviors significantly increased during the enrichment. Conversely, we did not find any significant change related to enrichment in cortisol and testosterone levels, whilst some effect by the zoo environment. Our results show little effectiveness by the scent enrichment as the lemur hormone levels did not change significantly and the lemurs continued to fail to reproduce following the enrichment. Nevertheless, our findings highlight that biologically relevant scent may trigger natural species-specific behaviors, with potential implications for enhancing behavioral health and management of zoo-based endangered lemur species.
期刊介绍:
The objective of the American Journal of Primatology is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and findings among primatologists and to convey our increasing understanding of this order of animals to specialists and interested readers alike.
Primatology is an unusual science in that its practitioners work in a wide variety of departments and institutions, live in countries throughout the world, and carry out a vast range of research procedures. Whether we are anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, or medical researchers, whether we live in Japan, Kenya, Brazil, or the United States, whether we conduct naturalistic observations in the field or experiments in the lab, we are united in our goal of better understanding primates. Our studies of nonhuman primates are of interest to scientists in many other disciplines ranging from entomology to sociology.