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Stress, social behaviour, and secondary sexual traits in a male primate

Setchell, J.M.; Smith, T.E.; Wickings, E.J.; Knapp, L.A.

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Authors

T.E. Smith

E.J. Wickings

L.A. Knapp



Abstract

We examined variation in glucocorticoid levels in the mandrill, a brightly coloured primate species, to identify major social influences on stress hormones, and investigate relationships among glucocorticoid levels, testosterone and secondary sexual ornamentation. We collected a total of 317 fecal samples for 16 adult male mandrills over 13 months, including mating and non-mating periods and periods of both dominance rank stability and instability, and compared fecal glucocorticoid levels with dominance rank, rank stability, presence of receptive females, gastro-intestinal parasite infection, fecal testosterone and facial red coloration. Glucocorticoid levels did not vary systematically with dominance rank, but increased when the dominance hierarchy was unstable, and increased in the presence of receptive females. The relationship between dominance rank and glucocorticoid levels changed direction according to the stability of the dominance hierarchy: glucocorticoid levels were higher in subordinate males under stable conditions, but under conditions of instability higher ranking males had higher glucocorticoid levels. The influence of dominance rank also interacted with the presence of receptive females: glucocorticoids were higher in dominant males than in subordinates, but only during mating periods, suggesting that dominant males are more stressed than subordinates during such periods. These findings support previous studies showing that the relationship between glucocorticoids and dominance rank in male baboons is dependent on the social environment. We also found that males with higher glucocorticoids suffered a higher diversity of gastrointestinal parasite infection, in line with evidence that glucocorticoids suppress the immune system in other species. However, we found no support for the stress-mediated immunocompetence handicap hypothesis for the evolution of condition-dependent ornaments: glucocorticoid and testosterone levels were positively related, rather than the negative relationship predicted by the hypothesis, and we found no relationship between red colour and glucocorticoid levels, suggesting that glucocorticoids do not play a role in translating social conditions or physical health into ornament expression in this species.

Citation

Setchell, J., Smith, T., Wickings, E., & Knapp, L. (2010). Stress, social behaviour, and secondary sexual traits in a male primate. Hormones and Behavior, 58(5), 720-728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.07.004

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Nov 1, 2010
Deposit Date Sep 30, 2010
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Hormones and Behavior
Print ISSN 0018-506X
Electronic ISSN 1095-6867
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 58
Issue 5
Pages 720-728
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.07.004
Keywords Sexual selection, Sexual signal, Immunocompetence handicap hypothesis, Badge-of-status, Condition-dependent ornaments.

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Copyright Statement
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Hormones and Behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Joanna M. Setchell, Tessa Smith, E. Jean Wickings, Leslie A. Knapp (2010) 'Stress, social behaviour, and secondary sexual traits in a male primate.', Hormones and behavior., 58 (5). pp. 720-728, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.07.004.





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