Man is happy to find “the one” who can be a lifelong companion. But they are not the only ones because some animals, such as lemurs, also use monogamy.
Lemurs, such as the red bell lemurs and mongoose lemurs are among the animals that will live with one partner all their lives to raise their offspring and protect their area.
The new study, published in Scientific Reports, examines the monogamous relationship between the lemurs, the most distant cousins of humans. Once they are connected by another lemur. they spend much of the time decorating each other or going side by side with their tails folded around each other’s bodies.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Tail dolphins, Denver Zoo in Denver, CO.
Monogamy is weird
Biologists said monogamy is a mystery because it cannot always be seen in many species in the animal kingdom.
While 90% of birds live with the same partner for the rest of their lives, only about 3% to 5% of mammals do. That means that more than 6,5000 species of known mammals engage in open relationships, with not just one partner but multiple.
Postdoctoral fellow Nicholas Grebe who works in the laboratory of Professor Christine Drea at Duke University, the lead author of the study, said monogamy is just an uncommon solution.
This raises the question of what makes some species biologically biological and others not.
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Cuddle Chemicals: Oxytocin and Vasopressin
Science Focus said the team from Duke University found that brain circulation as a primary means of making love may seem to persist in some species and not in others. .
In the last 30 years, scientists have studied rats and found that two hormones are released during breeding. The cuddle hormones called oxytocin and vasopressin are important in establishing long-term relationships.
For example, when researchers compared monogamous prairie coles brains with montane water voles and voles that do not use monogamy, they found that prairie voles had more docking sites for the cuddle hormones found in large quantities. -part in the reward system of the brain.
Meanwhile, in the new study, brain images of the lemurs revealed that oxytocin and vasopressin appear to act on different parts of the brain compared to previous studies on rodents. This means that monogamy in animals can be more complex than once thought.
“There may be a number of different ways through which monogamy is instantly produced within the brain, and it depends on the animals we are watching,” said Dr. Nicholas Grebe, lead author the study. “There’s more going on than we originally expected.”
What can Lemurs teach people about love?
The authors said the findings warn people to draw simple conclusions about human social behavior based on rodent tests, Futurity reported.
The oxytocin cuddle hormone may be the “potion for devotion” but the actions and interactions of multiple brain chemicals and ecological factors may be a feature for long-term bonds in lemurs, primates, and humans.
Grebe noted that there may be a number of different mechanisms through which monogamy is established in the brain, depending on the type of animal being studied.
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