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Environmental factors influencing the seasonality of estrus in chimpanzees

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Abstract

Although the energetics of the estrous cycle in primates is not well understood, evidence suggests that energy and nutrient acquisition influence ovulation and the timing of conception. Energy for estrus has to compete with energy allocated for cellular maintenance, thermoregulation, movement for food, and predation avoidance. While some chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) populations do not have a seasonal birth period, evidence suggests that there is seasonality in the number of estrous females. Similarly, the onset of postpartum cycles has been reported to be seasonal. We used 33 months of data from the Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire, to examine how the number of estrous females in a given month was influenced by the abundance and distribution of food, diet, rainfall and temperature. In a second analysis, we examined if there was a seasonal effect on first estrous swellings in adolescent females and postpartum adult females. Results demonstrated that the number of females in estrous in a given month was positively related to food abundance and percent foraging time spent eating insects, and negatively related to mean rainfall in the two preceding months and the mean high temperature. The timing of first estrous swellings of postpartum females and prepartum young females was positively related to the food abundance, and negatively related to mean high temperature. These results showed that environmental conditions can seasonally limit the energetically demanding estrus cycle. The presence of estrous females increases gregariousness in chimpanzee communities, and this study identified environmental factors that affect estrus directly and hence social grouping indirectly.

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Acknowledgements

D.P.A. thanks Juichi Yamagiwa for the invitation to participate in the symposium African Great Apes: Evolution, Diversity and Conservation. Funding for this research was provided by the Max Planck Society, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and U.S.A.I.D. – Program for Science and Technology (Timothy Moermond, P.I.). We are grateful to the Ministries of Eaux et Forêts and La Recherche Scientifique for granting permission to conduct this study. The Projet Autonome pour la Conservation du Parc National de Taï, the Centre Suisse pour la Recherche Scientifique en Côte d’Ivoire, and the Centre de Recherche Ecologique were valuable collaborators in this research. We thank all of the assistants of the Taï Chimpanzee Project, especially those involved with the behavioral and vegetation data collection; Néné Kpazahi Honora, Kohou Nohon Grégoire, Glebeo Pierre Polé, Bally Wabo Albert, Tahou Mompeho Jonas, and Dji Troh Camille. Ronald Noë kindly provided the climate data. Susanne Anderson assisted with data collection and management. Thomas Gordon provided computer assistance in the field. Téré Henri helped with the identification of plant species. Jakob and Marie Zinsstag provided logistic support in Abidjan. Helpful comments on the manuscript were provided by Janette Wallis Thomas J. Givnish, Monica G. Turner, Timothy C. Moermond, Karen B. Strier, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53704, USA

    Dean P. Anderson

  2. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, and Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Erik. V. Nordheim

  3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Christophe Boesch

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Correspondence to Dean P. Anderson.

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Anderson, D.P., Nordheim, E.V. & Boesch, C. Environmental factors influencing the seasonality of estrus in chimpanzees. Primates 47, 43–50 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-005-0143-y

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