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Male-mediated maturation in a wild primate

Amy Lu, Jacob A. Feder, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Thore J. Bergman, Jacinta C. Beehner
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.25.114934
Amy Lu
1Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
2Interdepartmental Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
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  • For correspondence: amy.lu@stonybrook.edu jbeehner@umich.edu
Jacob A. Feder
2Interdepartmental Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
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Noah Snyder-Mackler
3School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
4Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
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Thore J. Bergman
5Departmant of Ecology and Evolution, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
6Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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Jacinta C. Beehner
6Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
7Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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  • For correspondence: amy.lu@stonybrook.edu jbeehner@umich.edu
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Abstract

In humans, a controversial hypothesis suggests that father absence promotes early puberty in daughters. Data from rodents confirm females accelerate maturation with exposure to novel males (“Vandenbergh effect”) and delay it with exposure to male relatives. Here, we report the first case of male-mediated maturation in a wild primate, geladas (Theropithecus gelada). Females were more likely to mature after a change in the reproductive male: some matured earlier than expected (Vandenbergh effect) and some later (due to father presence). Novel males stimulated a surge in estrogens for all immature females - even females too young to mature. Although male-mediated puberty accelerated first births, the effect was modest, suggesting that alternative scenarios, such as co-evolution with the Bruce effect (male-mediated fetal loss) may explain this phenomenon.

One Sentence Summary Novel males induce an estrogen surge, male-mediated puberty, and a head-start on reproduction for immature female geladas.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • https://github.com/GeladaResearchProject/Lu_Vandenbergh_2020

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted May 28, 2020.
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Male-mediated maturation in a wild primate
Amy Lu, Jacob A. Feder, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Thore J. Bergman, Jacinta C. Beehner
bioRxiv 2020.05.25.114934; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.25.114934
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Male-mediated maturation in a wild primate
Amy Lu, Jacob A. Feder, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Thore J. Bergman, Jacinta C. Beehner
bioRxiv 2020.05.25.114934; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.25.114934

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