Key Male Glandular Odorants Attracting Female Ring-Tailed Lemurs

Abstract

Highlights d During the breeding season, females are attracted by male wrist glandular odor d Three C12 and C14 aldehydes are seasonally secreted by the male antebrachial gland d The amounts of the identified aldehydes increase in a testosterone-dependent manner d Females are interested in cotton pads soaked in the identified aldehydes

Pheromones: Stink Fights in Lemurs

“…Might the apparent seasonal difference in male gland secretion levels reflect breeding season testosterone titres and could this be experimentally manipulated? Shirasu, Ito and colleagues [5] injected two males in the non-breeding season with testosterone, which, they report, raised the candidate antebrachial gland molecules to breeding season levels.…”

“…However, despite evidence that smell is used for communication in primates, no primate pheromones have been chemically identified so far (despite claims for human pheromones [4]). A recent study in Current Biology by Mika Shirasu, Satomi Ito, Kazushige Touhara and colleagues [5] claims to have identified female-attracting odorants in male ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Their proposal has been questioned in this issue of Current Biology by Christine Drea and colleagues [6] and Peter Kappeler [7] -to which Shirasu, Ito and colleagues respond [8,9].…”

“…Drea and colleagues [11,12] had previously shown that lemur secretions and behaviours vary with season and reproductive state. In their recent study of male-specific antebrachial glands, Shirasu, Ito and colleagues [5] observed that females in their breeding season sniffed the gland secretions of breeding season males more than those of nonbreeding season males. Three volatile molecules were found at higher levels in males' antebrachial glands during the breeding season: 12-methyltridecanal, tetradecanal and dodecanal.…”

“…The preliminary evidence for breeding season secretion of these particular molecules and seasonal female response led the authors [5] to cautiously propose that these molecules might constitute a male pheromone, while recognizing that the data rest on samples from only a handful of male lemurs and responses from small numbers of females, all in captive populations -which leads to the issues raised by Christine Drea and colleagues [6] and Peter Kappeler [7].…”

Contextual complexity of chemical signals in callitrichids

“…As a result our current understanding of chemical signals in callitrichids is more complex and nuanced than it was when we first started this study 40 years ago.Although mammalian signals have multiple chemical components, it is still possible that one or a few compounds are responsible for influencing behavior. A recent study on ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) byShirasu et al (2020) found three main components in male scents that were effective in attracting attention of females. The three components acted synergistically to produce a stronger response than any single component.…”