Male goat vocalizations stimulate the estrous behavior and LH secretion in anestrous goats that have been previously exposed to bucks

Importance of intense male sexual behavior for inducing the preovulatory LH surge and ovulation in seasonally anovulatory female goats

“…For example, vocalizations from non-sedated males have been reported to stimulate LH pulsatility and estrous behavior in anovulatory female goats [19]. In our present study, the sedated males did not emit any vocalizations.…”

“…The same situation was observed in goats. Exposure of bucks to artificially long days from November 1 to January 15, followed by exposure to a natural photoperiod, improved testosterone secretion, sexual behavior, odor, and vocalizations from the end of February to the end of April, that is, the months corresponding to the natural period of sexual rest [10,19,20]. The photo-stimulated bucks induced 100% of the does to ovulate; by contrast, none of does ovulated when exposed to control bucks that were kept under a natural photoperiod, and were therefore sexually inactive [10].…”

One day of contact with photostimulated bucks is sufficient to induce ovulation in seasonally anestrous goats

“…Intensity of artificial light was at least 300 lx at the level of eyes of the animals. This photoperiodic treatment stimulates testosterone secretion, sexual behavior, and vocalizations of bucks in March and April, during the natural sexual rest when control males are sexually inactive [11,22].…”

“…The different results described in ewes versus cashmere and Mexican goats can be explained by the fact that RivasMuñoz et al [14] and Bedos et al [6,19,20] used males rendered sexually active by exposure to a long-day photoperiodic treatment [11,21], whereas Signoret et al [17] and Walkden-Brown et al [18] used photoperiodic-untreated males, which were in seasonal sexual rest. In fact, the high level of sexual behavior, the intense odor, and vocalizations showed by bucks induced by long-day treatments are important cues to induce endocrine and reproductive activities in anestrous goats [7,14,22]. Considering the high proportions of goats that ovulated when exposed to sexually active bucks for a short duration, we set the hypothesis that sexually active males could be able to induce ovulations in goats when permanent daily (24 h/day) contact between sexes is less than 15 days.…”

Sexual attractiveness of male chemicals and vocalizations in mice

“…For example, in biological function, male urine is chiefly responsible for estrus synchronization (the Whitten effect; Whitten, 1958), puberty acceleration in young females (the Vandenberg effect; Vandenbergh, 1969), and pregnancy block (the Bruce effect; Bruce, 1959). In addition, male courtship vocalizations enhance reproductive function in avian and mammal species (Shelton, 1980; McComb, 1987; Leboucher et al, 1998; Delgadillo et al, 2012). Thus, male signals are used both as social cues for mate preference and as a way to stimulate female reproduction.…”