Science & Technology - Posted by Karl Bates-Duke on Thursday, July 29, 2010 10:27 - 6 Comments 
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(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Lemurs smell funny on birth control
A female lemur's scent is a rich stew of chemical signals about her genetics, family relationships, and breeding status that she rubs on branches throughout the environment as a sort of calling card. (Credit: iStockphoto)
DUKE (US)—A new study finds hormonal contraception changes the chemical signals sent by female ring-tailed lemurs, making them less attractive to potential mates.
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“Hormonal contraception is known to alter the attractiveness of scent cues in humans and the presence of fertility cues in other primates,” says Christine Drea, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. “We wanted to understand all the ways in which contraception changes scent cues and the subsequent way these animals might interact with each other.”
Details of the work are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
A dozen female lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center were given monthly injections of the contraceptive Medroxyprogesterone acetate, or MPA, (marketed as Depo-Provera by Pfizer).
Drea’s chemical analysis found that they expressed different scent molecules than “intact” females, significantly altering the signals females send about themselves to social contacts and prospective partners. In other words, they smell funny.
The findings are part of a series of studies that Drea’s group has done using chromatography to tease apart the chemical components of the rich stew of scents produced by lemurs.
A female lemur’s scent normally conveys not only her fertility status, but also information about identity, her relatedness to others and her genetic homozygosity, an indicator of in-breeding.
If all of that information is scrambled by hormonal contraception, it may in part explain changed patterns of aggression that other studies have noted when captive primates are treated with contraceptives, Drea says.
In this study, the 12 females served as both intact and contracepted females by being sampled in each condition. Under contraception, the females were found to express some scents that intact females do not, and to express scents in different proportions.
The contracepted females also tended to lose their scent individuality.
“There’s something very different about these gals,” Drea says. “If animals are figuring out who their kin are by scent, she no longer smells like her brother.”
In behavioral tests, the 13 males in the study showed clear preferences for the scents of intact females, spending less time investigating odor samples from contracepted females.
The bigger question is whether these findings are relevant for our own species, Drea says. Humans are known to send and receive olfactory cues about hormonal status and possible compatibility.
“One has to wonder if human mate choice might be affected in some of the same ways it has been in these primates,” Drea adds.
The research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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6 Comments
Cindy, I appreciate your concern for the welfare of research animals, but in this case you are mistaken and uninformed about the conditions in which these animals live. The lemurs in this study are residents of the Duke Lemur Center, a free-range facility dedicated to conservation of these critically endangered animals. It conducts only non-invasive, do-no-harm research. In this case, that meant only some long-handled cotton swabs to collect specimens. The animals live in family groups in a rich forest and receive the best of veterinary care. See for yourself: http://lemur.duke.edu
Sophia
@Cindy: The lemurs in the Duke Lemur Center are actually raised and cared for in large, well-designed and well-maintained facilities that mimic natural conditions as closely as possible. In fact, many or most of them live outdoors for large parts of the year in a closed section of Duke Forest. The aim of the center is conservation, and their research avoids the cruelty of much of animal research. I would not consider giving a lemur reversible birth control outrageously cruel. Much of the other research is behavioral testing with no long-term effects on the animal’s health. Check them out here http://lemur.duke.edu/
Hi Karl and Sohpia,
I did check your site and was concerned that in fact you do invasive studies. Here is the quote from your site: “Although we do not allow research – or sample collection – that will harm our animals in any way, we bank biological samples opportunistically and support a variety of research projects requiring blood, serum, tissues, etc.” As you know, blood must be taken by full restraint and needle aspirated phlebotomy. There is really no way to opportunistically obtain blood unless it is menstrual or the result of an injury. I believe that your statement is misleading.
So, while I am happy to hear that they are not living in cages and that your intentions are good I still have some concerns that they are “stuck” with your experiments.
Last but not least, Who Cares!! Contraception has not stopped the overpopulation of humanity. Secondly, is more expensive than Viagra, not covered by most insurance plans (Viagra is ) and most women don’t use it. Who gives you money for this research, I would love to get well paid to research drawing these animals while I hang from a tree.
Leave nature alone !!
If you want to experiment on anything I say you use a readily available contained enviroment such as death row, we pay taxes on those inmates and their on their way out anyway. What better way to experiment human to human and even get accurate results. I know your answer will be, that’s inhumane. Well then, it’s also unacceptable to do it on animals who have not willingly accepted to be used in your experiments!!
Animal experimentation is WRONG no matter how beautiful and ALMOST natural enviroment you think you have created!!
Alena, I agree with you. I am certain that these researchers have no knowledge on how to dose birth control to female Lemurs and are putting them at risk for coagulation disorders including stroke, and other embolic life threats to their lungs, kidneys and vital tissues.
I challenge these people to stop showing photos of animals in the natural and depict what they really do – strap them down and force medications into their systems and take tissue samples, blood and whatever else they are erroneously funded for.
Just FYI – Yale University alone has 150,000 live animals locked up in its research labs. This is standard for the academics who are looking to become famous for a cure with no regard to other living beings. If people only knew what was really going on in those labs they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
Why do they show pictures of these beautiful and peaceful animals in the wild when we know that these ridiculous “scent” studies were performed on animals who spend their lifetime in cages getting their privates aspirated with needles. We all know that humans but just pop a viagra and get on with it. In most cases with human copulation the prevailing scent is traced back to a chemical identified as Budweiser or marijuana.