Certain aspects of bonobo female sexual repertoire are related to urinary testosterone metabolite levels

We examined the unknown relationship between testosterone and sexual behaviour in female bonobos (Pan paniscus) on a daily and long-term level. In most animal species, sexual behaviours mainly focus on reproduction. Bonobos, however, also use sexual interactions to a large extent to maintain and restore social relationships. They display an elaborate sexual repertoire that is expressed during fertile as well as non-fertile periods in life and exhibit a high degree of female control over sexual interactions. Using urinary testosterone metabolite levels of cycling and non-cycling females, we found no relationship between daily differences in testosterone metabolite concentrations and any of the sexual behaviours. However, long-term differences in the variables partially confirm the hypothesis of Jurke et al. [2001] stating that in bonobos testosterone is primarily related to non-reproductive sexual interactions. Furthermore, remarkably, a negative correlation of testosterone metabolite levels with the frequency of the females' sexual inspections was demonstrated. No correlation was found with the frequency of sexual presentations performed by the females and with the frequency of masturbation. We present a case study on this topic in an immigrating female. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.