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Reproductive hormone profiles in captive male orangutans: Implications for understanding developmental arrest

โœ Scribed by Maggioncalda, Anne N.; Sapolsky,, Robert M.; Czekala, Nancy M.


Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
1999
Tongue
English
Weight
136 KB
Volume
109
Category
Article
ISSN
0002-9483

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โœฆ Synopsis


For many years researchers have described some male orangutans as ''subadult.'' These males are of adolescent to adult age and are reproductive, but have little to no secondary sexual trait development. Until now the only endocrine study of this arrest of secondary sexual trait development was performed by Kingsley (1982Kingsley ( , 1988)). She found that ''subadult'' or arrested males have lower testosterone levels than similar age developing adolescents or adult males. In this study, urine samples were collected over a two-year period from 23 captive male orangutans in order to more fully define male endocrine profiles. Three study males were juveniles, seven were arrested adolescents, six were developing adolescents, and seven were mature adults. Morning samples were analyzed by radioimmunoassay for levels of testicular steroids and gonadotropins and group hormone profiles were compared by analysis of variance. Results illustrate that arrested adolescent orangutans have significantly lower testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels than developing adolescents, but significantly higher levels than juveniles. Luteinizing hormone (LH) levels also differed between arrested and developing adolescents, with arrested males having lower levels. However, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were similar in both morphs of adolescent male. The overall hormone profiles for arrested and developing adolescent male orangutans suggest that arrested males lack levels of LH, testosterone, and DHT necessary for development of secondary sexual traits. However, they have sufficient testicular steroids, LH, and FSH to fully develop primary sexual function and fertility. These endocrine data help define alternative developmental pathways in male orangutans. The authors discuss the relationship between these developmental pathways and male orangutan reproductive strategies, and hypothesize about their prepubertal socioendocrine determination.


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โœ Anne N. Maggioncalda; Nancy M. Czekala; Robert M. Sapolsky ๐Ÿ“‚ Article ๐Ÿ“… 1999 ๐Ÿ› John Wiley and Sons ๐ŸŒ English โš– 115 KB ๐Ÿ‘ 2 views

There are two morphs of reproductive male in orangutans. Both morphs span the age range from adolescent to adult, but "subadult" males are smaller in size and lack secondary sexual features. In this study, urine samples were collected over a 2 year period from 23 captive male orangutans in order to