Abstract:In multi-male, multi-female primate societies, although the sexual behaviors of adult males and females are not confined to the female's fertile period, it is believed that sexual behaviors are most active during the fertile period. For primate species in which females conceal their estrus, the relationship between sexual behaviors of male and female individuals and the female menstrual cycle is unclear. In this study, Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana) were used to investigate the relationship between sexual behaviors and menstrual cycle stages in female primates with concealed estrus. During the breeding season of Tibetan Macaques, 490 fecal samples were collected from 6 adult female macaques at the Tongling Zoo in Anhui Province from October 2, 2019 to January 14, 2020 (Fig. 1). The concentration of estradiol hormone in feces was determined by radioimmunoassay. The sexual behavior data of target individuals (4 females and 4 males) were collected by focus animal sampling method and behavior sampling method. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to test the correlation between estrogen and sexual behavior. The independent sample t-test was used to analyze the distribution differences of preceptive indicators (female presentation), attractive indicators (male sexual-inspection) and copulations in female Tibetan Macaques during three stages of the menstrual cycle (pre-fertile phase: 5 days before fertile phase; fertile phase: 2 days when ovulation is most likely plus 3 preceding days to account for sperm life span; post-fertile phase: 5 days after fertile phase). The results showed that the estradiol concentration of female Tibetan macaques fluctuated periodically during the breeding season, with a cycle length of 31.1 ± 1.8 d (n = 7, range: 23﹣37 d); During the menstrual cycle, estradiol concentration was negatively correlated with female presentation (r =﹣0.616, n = 15, P = 0.015), but had no significant correlation with copulation and male sexual-inspection. The average frequency of female presentation was mainly concentrated in the pre-fertile phase (T =﹣1.215, df = 12, P = 0.044). There was no significant difference between copulation and male sexual-inspection in the three stages of the menstrual cycle. The sexual behavior of Tibetan macaques was not concentrated in the fertile period of female, suggesting that estrogen has no strict control over the sexual behavior of Tibetan macaques and that male Tibetan macaques can not accurately identify the fertile period of female.