With its hormone assay services, the endocrinology laboratory supports a large number of scientific projects on the biology and conservation of primates and a few other mammal species.
With our work we assist extensively the research of several scientific units within our institute, but also provide support for external projects as part of international collaborations. The projects are mainly conducted in the fields of behavioural endocrinology, behavioural ecology, reproductive biology, field endocrinology, conservation and animal welfare.
Amongst those, the endocrinology laboratory is also involved in 7 projects of the Research Group "Sociality and Health in Primates" (FOR 2136) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since July 2014.
Below you see a selection of currently running projects and our collaboration partners:
- Growing up - Life history patterns in bonobos and chimpanzees (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, D; MPI for Animal Behaviour, D; University of Antwerp, B; Institut für Dopinganalytik und Sportbiochemie, D)
- Physiological correlates of dynamics in affiliation, dominance rank and group membership in dispersing male Assamese macaques (Universität Göttingen; FG Soziale Evolution der Primaten, DPZ)
- Prenatal stress effects on sociality, health and fitness in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) (Universität Göttingen; FG Soziale Evolution der Primaten, DPZ)
- Effects of progressing age on energy balance, sociality and health in wild female Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) (Universität Göttingen FG Soziale Evolution der Primaten, DPZ)
- Energetics and physiology in wild female Assamese macaques (Universität Göttingen; FG Soziale Evolution der Primaten, DPZ)
- Health and fitness consequences of group size variation in Verreaux´s sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) (Abt. Verhaltensökologie und Soziobiologie, DPZ)
- Social relationships: key to gut microbiome composition in wild redfronted lemurs? (Abt. Verhaltensökologie und Soziobiologie, DPZ)
- Dynamics and fitness benefits of male-male social bonds in wild Guinea baboons (Papio papio) (Abteilung Kognitive Ethologie, DPZ)
- A healthy social life? Sociality, stress and indicators of health in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) (Abteilung Verhaltensökologie und Soziobiologie, DPZ; Universität Göttingen)
- Maternal stress effects on infant development in wild Verreaux´s sifakas (Abteilung Verhaltensökologie und Soziobiologie, DPZ)
- Evaluating non-invasive biomarkers of inflammation and immune activation in primates (Abteilung Infektionsmodelle, DPZ; FG Soziale Evolution der Primaten, DPZ; New York Universität, USA)
- Behavioural and physiological effects of anthropogenic noise on captive-housed pied tamarins (University of Cambridge, UK; Anglia Ruskin University, UK)
- Ecological and physiological implications of rehabilitation and reintroduction of woolly monkeys in Colombia (Universität de los Andes, Bogota, Kolumbien)
- Comparative non-invasive monitoring of reproductive and stress hormones in captive-housed tarsier species (Bogor Agricultural University, IND)
- Grooming exchange: Cooperation and supply and demand among free-ranging rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago (Universität Buffalo, USA, New York Universität, USA)
- The reproductive ecology of the little-known Kinda baboon (New York Universität, USA)
- Energetics and reproductive ecology and physiology of wild chacma baboons (University of Swansea, UK)
- Female ano-genital swelling as a complex sexual signal: morphological, behavioral and hormonal correlates in wild Macaca maura (Roma Tre Universität, IT)
- The influence of sex and stress hormones on microbiome diversity and behavior in male rhesus macaques (University Colorado at Boulder, USA)
- Conservation endocrinology of wild Sumatran and Bornean orangutans (Universität Zürich, CH; Agricultural University Bogor, IND)
- Monitoring behaviour and physiological stress in African elephants during introduction into a new group: differences between related and unrelated animals? (Bergische Universität Wuppertal, D)
