Urinary oestrogen and progesterone excretion before and during pregnancy in a pied bare-face tamarin ( Saguinus bicolor bicolor )

Oestrone, oestradiol-17 beta and progesterone were measured by radioimmunoassay in daily urine samples after pairing and during subsequent pregnancy in a pied bare-face tamarin. On the basis of excretion profiles an ovarian cycle length of about 3 weeks and a gestation length of about 160 days are suggested. Oestrone was the predominant urinary oestrogen excreted by the non-pregnant and pregnant pied bare-face tamarin, the oestrone/oestradiol ratio being greater than 100:1. The results suggest that steroid monitoring can provide useful information about reproductive physiology in this species of tamarin.