“…While the vast majority of endocrinological studies in WR investigated progesterone levels and its development and reproductive function in females (e.g. Radcliffe et al , 1997 ; Schwarzenberger et al , 1998 ; Patton et al , 1999 ; Brown et al , 2001 ; Hermes et al , 2006 ; Sós et al , 2006 ; van der Goot et al , 2013 ; van der Goot et al , 2015b ; Hermes et al , 2020 ; Pennington et al , 2020 ), only a few studies examined androgen concentrations in males, focusing on environmenta and social effects ( Brown et al , 2001 ; Kretzschmar et al , 2004 ; Christensen et al , 2009 ), territorial behaviour ( Rachlow et al , 1998 ) as well as breeding success ( Ververs, 2018 ; Kretzschmar et al , 2020 ). Whereas the authors describe an increase in faecal androgen metabolite levels during sexual maturation ( Kretzschmar et al , 2004 ; Ververs, 2018 ) and agree on the importance of T for the reproductive state, there are some discrepancies in their results regarding the effect of females on the androgen metabolite values.…”