Social odours, sexual arousal and pairbonding in primates

We describe the role of social odours in sexual arousal and maintaining pairbonds in biparental and cooperatively breeding primates. Social odours are complex chemical mixtures produced by an organism that can simultaneously provide information about species, kinship, sex, individuality and reproductive state. They are long lasting and have advantages over other modalities. Both sexes are sensitive to changes in odours over the reproductive cycle and experimental disruption of signals can lead to altered sexual behaviour within a pair. We demonstrate, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that social odours indicating reproductive state directly influence the brain areas responsible for sexual behaviour. Social odours also influence other brain areas typically involved in motivation, memory and decision making, suggesting that these signals have more complex functions in primates than mere sexual arousal. We demonstrate a rapid link between social odours and neuroendocrine responses that are modulated by a male's social status. Recent work on humans shows similar responses to social odours. We conclude with an integration of the importance of social odours on sexual arousal and maintaining pairbonds in socially biparental and cooperatively breeding species, suggesting new research directions to integrate social behaviour, neural activation and neuroendocrine responses

Voice processing in human and non-human primates

Humans share with non-human primates a number of voice perception abilities of crucial importance in social interactions, such as the ability to identify a conspecific individual from its vocalizations. Speech perception is likely to have evolved in our ancestors on the basis of pre-existing neural mechanisms involved in extracting behaviourally relevant information from conspecific vocalizations (CVs). Studying the neural bases of voice perception in primates thus not only has the potential to shed light on cerebral mechanisms that may be—unlike those involved in speech perception—directly homologous between species, but also has direct implications for our understanding of how speech appeared in humans. In this comparative review, we focus on behavioural and neurobiological evidence relative to two issues central to voice perception in human and non-human primates: (i) are CVs ‘special’, i.e. are they analysed using dedicated cerebral mechanisms not used for other sound categories, and (ii) to what extent and using what neural mechanisms do primates identify conspecific individuals from their vocalizations

Cloridrato de tiletamina associado com cloridrato de zolazepam na tranqüilização e anestesia de calitriquídeos (Mammalia, Primates) Tiletamine hydrochloride in association with zolazepam hydrochloride for the tranquilization and anesthesia of callitrichids

Utilizou-se a associação de cloridrato de tiletamina (125mg) e cloridrato de zolazepam (125mg) diluídos em água destilada (10ml) como tranqüilizante e anestésico em 38 animais pertencentes às espécies Saguinus imperator imperator (N= 21), Saguinus fuscicollis weddeli (N= 15) e Cebuella pygmea (N=2). Indivíduos de ambos os sexos, com pesos entre 130 e 520g, receberam doses de 0,02ml (1,11mg/kg) a 0,15ml (8,33mg/kg) pela via intramuscular. Na maioria dos casos ocorreu anestesia. Os animais foram libertados no mesmo dia da captura, após recuperação pós-anestésica. Não ocorreu efeito colateral aparente sobre os fetos de duas fêmeas gestantes. Apesar da morte de um animal jovem, os resultados foram considerados satisfatórios na tranqüilização e anestesia de calitriquídeos.<br>Tiletamine hydrochloride (125mg) in association with zolazepam hydrochloride (125mg) diluted in distilled water (10ml) were used as tranquilizer and anesthetic in 38 individuals of three species of callitrichids: 21 black-chinned emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator imperator), 15 saddleback tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis weddeli) and 2 pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmea). Individuals of both sexes that had weighed between 130g and 520g received doses of 0.02ml (1.11mg/kg) to 0.15ml (8.33mg/kg). In most of the cases anesthesia occurred. Marmosets were liberated in the same day of the capture, after we had verified the animal’s rehabilitation. Side effects were not apparent in the fetus of the two pregnant females. Despite the death of an young individual, the results were considered satisfactory to produce tranquillity and anesthesia in callitrichid