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An integrative model of the lactational and environmental control of mating in female rhesus monkeys

1993; Elsevier BV; Volume: 46; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1006/anbe.1993.1162

1095-8282

Rodney L. Johnson, Carol M. Berman, Iqbal Malik,

Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior

Abstract. In this paper, a model is presented of the lactational and environmental control of the seasonal mating behaviour of female rhesus monkeys, Macaca mulatta. Previous research has demonstrated that the resumption of mating postpartum by macaque females is inhibited by nursing. Field data from the rhesus populations at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, and Tughlaqabad, India, included with this report, suggest specifically that mating onset is precluded until suckling intensity drops below a threshold level and that this threshold rises during the first half of the mating season. Integrating these findings with the observations of other investigators our model postulates that: (1) during the early part of the mating season, the lactational inhibition of sexual activity declines due to a progressive loss of response to the suckling stimulus among nursing females; (2) a graded restoration of the animals' responsiveness to suckling re-establishes its power to inhibit sexual activity during the latter half of the mating season; and (3) both the loss and subsequent restoration of inhibition are induced primarily by seasonal changes in the physical environment. The model also holds that a rhesus monkey mother may influence the rate at which the intensity of her infant's suckling declines and, therefore, her own date of mating onset.