Hormonal monitoring of age at sexual maturation in female Goeldi's monkeys (Callimico goeldii) in their family groups

✍ Scribed by A. Dettling; C.R. Pryce

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 84 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1999)48:1<77::aid-ajp6>3.0.co;2-3

✦ Synopsis

The aim of this study was to determine whether or not sexual maturation is attained in the family group in captive-born Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii) and if so, at what age and body weight. To monitor ovarian activity in 14 female Goeldi's monkeys, urinary content of pregnanediol-3α-glucuronide (PdG) was determined using radioimmunoassay. Urinary samples were collected between the ages of 6 and 70 weeks. Subjects became sexually mature while still housed in their family groups, at a median age of 57 weeks (48-< 70 weeks). Median body weight at the age of sexual maturity was 473 g (N = 10; 420-543 g). This corresponded to 90% of the median non-pregnant body weight of breeding females in our colony (526 g, N = 8). Therefore, Goeldi's monkey is similar to Leontopithecus but different from Cebuella, Callithrix, and Saguinus, in terms of daughters ovulating in the family group and at a relatively young age. Am.