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PubMed2005

New evidence that the MHC influences odor perception in humans: a study with 58 Southern Brazilian students.

Increasing evidence suggests a correlation between mate choice, odor preference, and genetic similarity at the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) in a variety of animals, including our species. The MHC is a highly polymorphic group of genes that play an important role in the immunological self/nonself recognition. Its products have been reported to take part on the variety of compounds and reactions that together build an individual's body odor. It has been suggested, therefore, that animals use body odor as a guide to identify possible mates as MHC-similar or MHC-dissimilar from their own genotype. Preference for a MHC-dissimilar partner enhances MHC heterozygosity of an individual's offspring. The possible adaptive advantages are clear: it is a mechanism of avoiding inbreeding and MHC-heterozygous offspring may have enhanced immunocompetence. The aim of this study was to search, in our species, new evidence on the correlation between specificities at HLA-A and HLA-B and assessments of pleasantness regarding specific body odors. HLA is the name for the human MHC. Four olfactory sessions were performed with 58 young Southern Brazilian students, in order to investigate whether assessments of pleasantness of body odors from individuals correlate to a person's HLA phenotype. Body odors were collected via sweat and urine from all participants. Women smelled and scored all male odor samples and men did the same with all female samples. We found a significant correlation only when female smellers evaluated male sweat odors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Peripheral anosmia attenuates female-enhanced aggression in male rats.

It is well established that male rats with prior access to sexually active females show enhanced offensive aggression toward unfamiliar male intruders. The present study assessed the importance of the sense of smell for this facilitatory effect. It was found in 2 independent experiments that anosmia, induced peripherally by surgically removing the olfactory epithelium and cutting the olfactory nerves, reduced baseline levels of offensive aggression and significantly attenuated the female-enhanced aggression effect. It was also found that sexual performance of anosmic rats was context-dependent, in that it was more impaired in the homecage environment than in standard observation cages. In contrast to sham-operated males, the experimental animals showed no preference for estrous over anestrous females in a mate choice test. Anosmic males did not appear more fearful than controls, as assessed in a hyponeophagia test, but they showed less exploratory behavior (rearing and head-dipping) in the hole-board test, and less rearing activity in automated activity boxes.

Aggression↗
PubMed1999

Cultural influences on female mate choice: an experimental test in cowbirds, Molothrus ater.

Previous studies of brown-headed cowbirds Molothrus ater, have shown that social learning and cultural transmission can influence courtship and mating patterns. These earlier studies did not test whether cultural background influenced mate choice in females and therefore whether culture could potentially play a role in sexual selection in this species, as has been suggested by recent theory. Here, we tested whether culture influences female mate choice in brown-headed cowbirds. Female cowbirds from a South Dakota population were housed with adult cowbirds from the same South Dakota population or with adult cowbirds from a behaviourally distinct population from Indiana. We tested the mating preferences of females of the South Dakota culture and females of the Indiana culture in sequential mate-choice trials with males, controlling for intrasexual interactions. The males were South Dakota cowbirds that had also been housed either in the South Dakota culture or in the Indiana culture. Females showed mating preferences for males from their own culture. These results suggest that mate choice in female cowbirds can be influenced by cultural background. We briefly discuss the effect that culture may have on sexual selection and on the evolution of female mating preferences. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Paternally inherited HLA alleles are associated with women's choice of male odor.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a source of unique individual odors that influence individual recognition, mating preferences, nesting behavior and selective block of pregnancy in animals. Such phenomena have been difficult to study in humans, because the human leukocyte antigen (HLA, human MHC) loci are the most polymorphic loci in the human genome, with the potential to generate millions of unique combinations of genotypes. In addition, high variability in background odors, encoded by the rest of the genome and influenced by cultural practices, contribute to a low signal-to-noise ratio that could mask HLA-based olfactory cues. Here we show that women can detect differences of one HLA allele among male odor donors with different MHC genotypes. Notably, the mechanism for a woman's ability to discriminate and choose odors is based on HLA alleles inherited from her father but not her mother. The parents' HLA alleles that she does not inherit show no relationship with odor choice, despite exposure to these HLA-encoded odors throughout her life. Our data indicate that paternally inherited HLA-associated odors influence odor preference and may serve as social cues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The generality and ultimate origins of the attractiveness of prototypes.

The relationship between category structure and affect, a core question about the affect-cognition interface, has been largely ignored by both literatures, with the exception of studies on the attractiveness of computer-averaged faces. This article reviews a number of the authors' recent and unpublished studies that demonstrate a robust positive correlation between prototypicality and attractiveness across diverse categories, and that systematically explore several hypotheses about the ultimate, that is, evolutionary, origins of this bias. A tentative dual-origin explanation is offered, in which prototypes of animal categories are preferred as a generalization of a mate-selection adaptation designed for human faces; coincidentally prototypes of artifacts (and possibly natural, nonanimal categories) are preferred by virtue of their subjective familiarity.

Affect↗
PubMed1990

Patterns of social preference across different social contexts in golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia).

We investigated the role of mutual and circumstantial factors in maintaining exclusive social relationships in a New World primate. Four breeding pairs of golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia rosalia) were allowed to interact with their mate or an unfamiliar, opposite-sex adult in each of 4 different social contexts: in view of the mate, out of the mate's view, with only the mate present, and with only the unfamiliar animal present. Males and females were in proximity to, approached, and sniffed their mates significantly more often than they did unfamiliar tamarins. These behaviors suggest a preference for the familiar mate. However, when mates were absent, tamarins demonstrated significantly higher levels of approach and sniffs toward unfamiliar animals. These patterns of behavior indicate that circumstantial factors, such as social context, may regulate social interactions between paired tamarins and unfamiliar, opposite-sex conspecifics.

Aggression↗
PubMed2003

Female life span and fertility are increased by the ejaculates of preferred males.

In animals with internal fertilization, sperm competition among males can favor the evolution of male ejaculate traits that are detrimental to females. Female mating preferences, in contrast, often favor traits in males that are beneficial to females, yet little is known about the effect of these preferences on the evolution of male ejaculates. A necessary condition for female preferences to affect the evolution of male ejaculate characteristics is that females select mates based on a trait correlated with ejaculate quality. Previous work has shown that females of the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps, prefer males that produce calling songs containing faster and longer chirps. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that females receive more beneficial ejaculates from preferred males. Females were placed on either a high- or a reduced-nutrition diet then mated twice to a male of known song phenotype. Females received only sperm and seminal fluid from males during these matings. There was no effect of male song phenotype on any fitness component for females on the high-nutrition diet. Reduced-nutrition females mated to males that produced preferred song types, however, lived longer, produced more eggs, produced more fertile eggs, and had a higher proportion of their eggs fertilized than those mated to other males. The life-span benefit was positively associated with male chirp duration, and the reproductive benefits were positively associated with male chirp rate. We explored two possible mechanisms for the life span and reproductive benefits. First, a path analysis suggested that part of the effect of male chirp duration on female life span may have been indirect; females mated to males that produced longer chirps showed delayed oviposition, and females that delayed oviposition lived longer. Males that produce longer chirps may thus transfer fewer or less potent oviposition stimulants to females in their seminal fluid. Second, there was a positive correlation between male chirp rate and the number of sperm transferred to females. The fertility benefit may thus have resulted from females receiving more sperm from males that produce faster chirps. Finally, there was a negative phenotypic correlation between male chirp rate and chirp duration, suggesting that females may have to trade off the life span and reproduction benefits when selecting a mate.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed1997

Temporal aspects in the development of Belding's ground squirrels' litter-mate preferences

Four experiments were conducted to determine how experience around the time of natal emergence affected the development of litter-mate preferences in juvenile Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingiSocial preferences were ascertained by observing six captive groups, each housed in outdoor enclosures beginning at natal emergence, and recording the frequency of dyadic play. Juveniles preferred their litter-mates as play partners on day 1 above-ground, demonstrating that pre-emergent interactions influenced social development. Whether cross-fostered young displayed play-partner preferences based on relatedness and rearing history depended on when young were exchanged with respect to natal emergence, which suggests that social development is especially sensitive to experience shortly before natal emergence. Juveniles do not display litter-mate preferences if they emerge into an environment from which dams have been removed, but in the present study, if juveniles interacted for 1 week before dams were withdrawn from enclosures, then litter-mate preferences were manifested both before and after dams were withdrawn. These results suggest that a foundation for litter-mate preferences is laid before natal emergence, and that preferences are solidified by interactions between litter-mates on their first few days above-ground. Finally, non-litter-mates that interacted with each other shortly after natal emergence were preferred social partners during later encounters compared with non-litter-mates denied the opportunity to interact shortly after emergence. Collectively, the four experiments demonstrate that social experience around the time of natal emergence is crucial to the developmental process that generates litter-mate preferences in S. beldingi1997 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Journal Article↗
PubMed1986

Sex-specific interactions between aggressive and sexual behavior in the rat: effects of testosterone and progesterone.

The influence of progesterone on sexual and aggressive behaviors during aggressive encounters was investigated in pairs of TP-treated male and female rats. Gonadectomized females, chronically injected with testosterone propionate (TP), showed low but consistent levels of feminine sexual behavior which alternated with aggression. Progesterone when given in addition to TP facilitated receptive and proceptive behaviors, but reduced levels of aggression. In TP-treated males, levels of aggression were the same as observed in TP-treated females. However, TP-treated males seldomly showed sexual behavior during aggressive encounters and additional treatment with progesterone did not affect their behavior. After the aggression tests, animals were tested in a social preference test in which an ovariectomized female cage mate and the opponent from the aggressive encounter served as incentives. Positive correlations between levels of aggression and social preference for an opponent were found in both sexes, although correlations only reached statistical significance when progesterone was given in addition to TP. These correlations were found in both sexes, despite the fact that group analysis revealed pronounced sex differences in social preference: males preferred to spend their time near ovariectomized female cage mates, whereas females divided their time equally among female cage mates and opponents.

Aggression↗
PubMed2006

The genetic basis of prezygotic reproductive isolation between Drosophila santomea and D. yakuba due to mating preference.

Sexual isolating mechanisms that act before fertilization are often considered the most important genetic barriers leading to speciation in animals. While progress has been made toward understanding the genetic basis of the postzygotic isolating mechanisms of hybrid sterility and inviability, little is known about the genetic basis of prezygotic sexual isolation. Here, we map quantitative trait loci (QTL) contributing to prezygotic reproductive isolation between the sibling species Drosophila santomea and D. yakuba. We mapped at least three QTL affecting discrimination of D. santomea females against D. yakuba males: one X-linked and one autosomal QTL affected the likelihood of copulation, and a second X chromosome QTL affected copulation latency. Three autosomal QTL also affected mating success of D. yakuba males with D. santomea. No epistasis was detected between QTL affecting sexual isolation. The QTL do not overlap between males and females and are not disproportionately concentrated on the X chromosome. There was some overlap in map locations of QTL affecting sexual isolation between D. santomea and D. yakuba with QTL affecting sexual isolation between D. simulans and D. mauritiana and with QTL affecting differences in pigmentation between D. santomea and D. yakuba. Future high-resolution mapping and, ultimately, positional cloning, will reveal whether these traits do indeed have a common genetic basis.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The social organisation of a population of Sumatran orang-utans.

Female orang-utans in a Sumatran swamp forest live in large, but stable, and widely overlapping home ranges. They preferentially associate with some of their female neighbours, possibly relatives, to form socially distinct clusters that also experience reproductive synchrony. Sexually mature males range more widely than females, but among them the dominant adult male has a relatively more limited range. His ranging and that of the subadult males reflect the local abundance of sexually attractive females. The other adult males tend to avoid these concentrations and focus on areas away from the dominant male. Females show philopatric tendencies. Male-biased sex ratios at birth give way to heavily female-biased sex ratios among adults. This suggests a net loss of males as they mature, due either to excess male mortality (e.g. by male mating competition), excess male dispersal from the population or a combination of both. We conclude that the orang-utan social organisation is best described as a loose community, showing neither spatial nor social exclusivity, consisting of one or more female clusters and the adult male they all prefer as mate.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Chemical communication and mate attraction in echinostomes.

Mate attraction is widespread among animals and appears to facilitate mating and to prevent hybridisation between closely related species. In this study we investigated mate preference between two geographical isolates of Echinostoma caproni (Trematoda, Platyhelminth) and another species of the genus Echinostoma E. sp. Because previous experiments showed a partial reproductive isolation between echinostome isolates, we examined the possibility that such isolation resulted from differential mate attraction. We compared intra-isolate, inter-isolate and interspecific pairings using two in vitro experimental designs. In the first experiment we compared mate attraction of two individuals belonging to or not belonging to the same isolate, while in the second experiment we examined mate choice when individuals were in the presence of individuals from both the same isolate and from a different isolate or a different species. Distances between worms were measured over a period of 90 min. Results from both experiments suggested that mate attraction was similar for intra-isolate, inter-isolate or interspecific combinations. This lack of mate preference in vitro would therefore support an alternative hypothesis of a reproductive isolation through sperm selection.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Releasers of imprinting: instinctive preferences for liver models and those with painted sign-stimuli.

White Leghorn chicks hatched and raised in isolation were tested for their preference to situations where age-mates or silhouettes of age-mates were paired against hens, other adult animals, or silhouettes of hens with various sign-stimuli painted on. Silhouettes with painted sign-stimuli elicit quite different developmental patterns of preference, with the hens of the more complex silhouettes being prepotent. The hen silhouette models increase in prepotency when they are moving, with one exception. A Mallard drake emerged as powerful releasing object, suggesting that its large, yellow beak may be a supernormal stimulus.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Oxytocin, vasopressin, and social recognition in mammals.

While pheromones may act as social memory signals, oxytocin and vasopressin acting in the brain appear to be critical for the neural processing of olfactory signatures used for social discrimination. Evidence from a variety of laboratories using a range of animal models, as well as an array of molecular and pharmacological techniques, have helped to determine the neuroanatomical and functional roles oxytocin and vasopressin play in social cognition. In this review we discuss the considerable evidence for the roles of oxytocin and vasopressin in social recognition in rats and mice, as well as in offspring recognition in sheep and mate preference in monogamous voles.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Social learning of food types in zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata) is directed by demonstrator sex and feeding activity.

In this study we examined how social learning of feeding preferences by zebra finches was affected by the identity of different demonstrators. We presented adult zebra finches with two demonstrators, one male and one female, that exhibited different food choices, and we recorded their subsequent preference when given a choice between the two food types. Previously it was found that young zebra finches' patterns of social learning are affected by the sex of the individual demonstrating a feeding behaviour. This result could be explained by the lack of exposure these animals had to the opposite sex, or by their mating status. Therefore, we investigated the social learning preferences of adult mated zebra finches. We found the same pattern of directed social learning of a different type of feeding behaviour (food colour): female zebra finches preferred the colour of food eaten by male demonstrators, whereas male zebra finches showed little evidence of any preference for the colour of food eaten by female demonstrators. Furthermore, we found that female observers' preferences were biased by demonstrators' relative feeding activity: the female demonstrator was only ever preferred if it ate less than its male counterpart.

Animals↗