About

Christine M. Drea is a Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University and has been serving since 2012. She also holds the position of Professor of Biology in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences since 2015. Her research interests focus on sexual differentiation and social behavior, particularly in hyenas and primates. She studies species where females display masculinized characteristics, including male-like external genitalia and social dominance, to understand hormonal activity's role in genital morphology, reproductive development, and social behavior. Her approach combines laboratory and field research to relate captive data to natural habitats, aiming to elucidate mechanisms of mammalian sexual differentiation through comparative studies of hyenas and lemurs. Drea's social behavior research centers on social learning and group cohesion, investigating how social interactions influence behavior, problem-solving, and cognition in group-living animals. She examines how complex social organization impacts learning and performance across different taxa and explores how animals learn social rules and maintain cohesion through behavioral development, social interactions, scent marking, and social facilitation or inhibition. Her work employs naturalistic tasks with captive animals in socially relevant contexts, integrating ecological validity into her studies to better understand evolutionary processes.

Research topics

• Ecology
• Genetics
• Biology
• Zoology
• Evolutionary biology
• Neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Maternal androgens shape vocal begging patterns in meerkats, providing competitive advantages in dominant matrilines

  Universität Zürich, ZORA · 2026-05-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Maternal androgens shape vocal begging patterns in meerkats, providing competitive advantages in dominant matrilines

  Hormones and Behavior · 2026-03-25

  articleOpen access

  Maternal effects provide a non-genomic pathway by which individual phenotypes shape offspring traits. Consistent with this phenomenon, we previously found that socially and experimentally mediated variation in maternal androgen action in the meerkat ( Suricata suricatta ) – a female-dominant, cooperatively breeding mongoose – influenced the developmental pace of offspring vocalisations, with increased prenatal androgen exposure accelerating their transition between different call types. Here, we test for effects on the fine-scale, temporal structure of two types of begging vocalisations: repeat and digging calls. We measured call durations, inter-call intervals, and call rates in offspring of dominant control (DC; high-testosterone), subordinate control (SC; lower-testosterone), and dominant treated (DT; blocked-testosterone) females, that had received an antiandrogen during late gestation. DC offspring, especially daughters, displayed the most intense begging, producing calls at the highest rates and with the shortest intervals, potentially enhancing the caller's likelihood of being provisioned; DC daughters also showed the steepest decline in call intensity whilst learning to forage. Conversely, SC and DT offspring displayed less intense, potentially less effective, calls that may have delayed nutritional independence. These intergenerational effects show that maternal androgens can mediate resource acquisition strategies by modifying the temporal structure of begging vocalisations in a wild mammal. Moreover, these competitive advantages were reinforced along dominant matrilines, most notably among daughters, offering new insights into the evolutionary significance of female hormonal ‘masculinisation’. • Maternal androgens mediate vocal begging strategies in meerkat pups. • Offspring of high-testosterone (T) dominant mothers beg most intensely. • Pup calls from lower-T subordinate and blocked-T dominant mothers differ by sex. • Status-related variation in maternal androgens affects daughters more than sons. • High prenatal androgens confer competitive advantage for early resource acquisition.

  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of age-related inflammation and oxidative stress in two lemur species

  Journal of Comparative Physiology B · 2025-07-02 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Neuropeptide receptor distributions in male and female <i>Eulemur</i> vary between female-dominant and egalitarian species

  Biology Letters · 2025-03-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Aggression and its neurochemical modulators are typically studied in males, leaving the mechanisms of female competitive aggression or dominance largely unexplored. To better understand how competitive aggression is regulated in the primate brain, we used receptor autoradiography to compare the neural distributions of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors in male and female members of female-dominant versus egalitarian/codominant species within the Eulemur genus, wherein dominance structure is a reliable proxy of aggression in both sexes. We found that oxytocin receptor binding in the central amygdala (CeA) was predicted by dominance structure, with the members of three codominant species showing more oxytocin receptor binding in this region than their peers in four female-dominant species. Thus, both sexes in female-dominant Eulemur show a pattern consistent with the regulation of aggression in male rodents. We suggest that derived pacifism in Eulemur stems from selective suppression of ancestral female aggression over evolutionary time via a mechanism of increased oxytocin receptor binding in the CeA, rather than from augmented male aggression. This interpretation implies fitness costs to female aggression and/or benefits to its inhibition. These data establish Eulemur as a robust model for examining neural correlates of male and female competitive aggression, potentially providing novel insights into female dominance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intergenerational effects of maternal androgens on vocal ontogeny and developmental plasticity in a cooperatively breeding mammal

  Hormones and Behavior · 2025-08-20 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Developmental plasticity, the ability to adapt one's phenotype to environmental cues, is crucial during early-life stages and can affect fitness. Despite significant androgenic variation between females of select species, the impact of maternal hormones on offspring ontogeny in wild mammals has been rarely investigated. Here, we rely on natural and experimentally induced variation in androgen action between dominant and subordinate female meerkats, Suricata suricatta , to examine plasticity of vocal development in their offspring. Meerkats are cooperatively breeding mongooses that have a rich vocal repertoire. We recorded calls produced at distinct developmental stages by offspring from dominant and subordinate control mothers that naturally differ in absolute androgen concentrations and from dominant treated mothers that had received an androgen-receptor blocker in late gestation. Using call types as indicators, we found that the offspring of dominant control mothers had a robust vocal trajectory, even under adverse environmental conditions; following full nutritional dependence, their vocal development was accelerated relative to that of other offspring. Conversely, offspring from both subordinate control and dominant antiandrogen treated mothers suffered ontogenetic delays; they showed distinct sex differences in trajectory and a greater sensitivity to socio-ecological influences. Antiandrogen-exposed offspring also showed atypical early call usage. These findings provide rare evidence of the potential for maternal androgens to mediate mammalian offspring development in accordance with demands of the socio-ecological environment. • Status-dependent androgen variation in meerkat females influences pup vocal traits. • Pups from high-testosterone (T) dominant mothers showed rapid vocal ontogeny. • Pups from low-T subordinate and blocked-T dominant mothers showed vocal delays. • Calls of high-T matrilines were most resilient to socio-ecological variation. • Maternal androgens confer competitive advantages along dominant matrilines.

  PublisherDOI

• Androgen-mediated maternal effects and trade-offs: postnatal hormone development, growth, and survivorship in wild meerkats

  Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2024-09-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Introduction Mammalian reproductive and somatic development is regulated by steroid hormones, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Based largely on information from humans, model organisms, and domesticated animals, testosterone (T) and the GH/IGF-1 system activate sexually differentiated development, promoting male-biased growth, often at a cost to health and survivorship. To test if augmented prenatal androgen exposure in females produces similar developmental patterns and trade-offs, we examine maternal effects in wild meerkats ( Suricata suricatta ), a non-model species in which adult females naturally, albeit differentially by status, express exceptionally high androgen concentrations, particularly during pregnancy. In this cooperative breeder, the early growth of daughters predicts future breeding status and reproductive success. Methods We examine effects of normative and experimentally induced variation in maternal androgens on the ontogenetic patterns in offspring reproductive hormones (androstenedione, A 4 ; T; estradiol, E 2 ), IGF-1, growth from pup emergence at 1 month to puberty at 1 year, and survivorship. Specifically, we compare the male and female offspring of dominant control (DC or high-T), subordinate control (SC or lower-T), and dominant treated (DT or blocked-T) dams, the latter having experienced antiandrogen treatment in late gestation. Results Meerkat offspring showed sex differences in absolute T and IGF-1 concentrations, developmental rates of A 4 and E 2 expression, and survivorship — effects that were sometimes socially or environmentally modulated. Atypical for mammals were the early male bias in T that disappeared by puberty, the absence of sex differences in A 4 and E 2 , and the female bias in IGF-1. Food availability was linked to steroid concentrations in females and to IGF-1, potentially growth, and survival in both sexes. Maternal treatment significantly affected rates of T, E 2 , and IGF-1 expression, and weight, with marginal effects on survivorship; offspring of DT dams showed peak IGF-1 concentrations and the best survivorship. Discussion Maternal effects thus impact offspring development in meerkats, with associated trade-offs: Whereas prenatal androgens modify postnatal reproductive and somatic physiology, benefits associated with enhanced competitiveness in DC lineages may have initial costs of reduced IGF-1, delay in weight gain, and decreased survivorship. These novel data further confirm the different evolutionary and mechanistic pathways to cooperative breeding and call for greater consideration of natural endocrine variation in both sexes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hyena Reproduction

  Elsevier eBooks · 2024-11-26

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Maternal androgens in dominant meerkats (Suricata suricatta) reduce juvenile offspring health and survivorship

  2024-09-06

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  1. In oviparous vertebrates, maternal androgens can alter offspring immune function, particularly early in development, but the potential for negative health effects of maternal androgens in mammals remains unclear. 2. We investigated the relation between maternal androgens, particularly in late gestation, and offspring health in the meerkat (Suricata suricatta) by comparing offspring from (a) normative dominant and subordinate matrilines, whose dams naturally express high versus lower circulating androgen concentrations, respectively, and (b) normative dominant and antiandrogen-treated dominant matrilines, whose dams’ androgen function was intact versus blocked owing to experimental antagonism of the latter’s androgen receptors (using Flutamide©). Foetal offspring thus experienced three different endocrine environments (‘high,’ ‘lower,’ ‘blocked’ androgens) late in prenatal development. We assessed parasitism, immune function, steroid concentrations and survivorship in these three offspring groups, both during juvenility and early adulthood. 3. The juvenile offspring of subordinate control and dominant treated dams generally had lower intensities of parasite infections and greater immune function than did their peers from dominant control dams – patterns not found in adult offspring, nor in relation to the offspring’s concurrent hormone concentrations. Survivorship to adulthood was greatest in the progeny of treated dams. 4. Descendants of dominant female meerkats – those in the ‘high’ prenatal androgen category – suffered increased parasitism and decreased immunocompetence as juveniles, as well as reduced survivorship relative to antiandrogen-exposed peers, providing evidence in mammals that maternal androgens can negatively impact offspring health and survival. These intergenerational, androgen-mediated, health effects represent early costs imposed by female intrasexual competition and its associated selection pressures.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Maternal Androgens in Dominant Meerkats (<i>Suricata suricatta</i>) Reduce Juvenile Offspring Health and Survivorship

  Ecology and Evolution · 2024-11-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT In oviparous vertebrates, maternal androgens can alter offspring immune function, particularly early in development, but the potential for negative health effects of maternal androgens in mammals remains unclear. We investigated the relation between maternal androgens, particularly in late gestation, and offspring health in the meerkat ( Suricata suricatta ) by comparing offspring from (a) normative dominant and subordinate matrilines, whose dams naturally express high versus lower circulating androgen concentrations, respectively, and (b) normative dominant and antiandrogen‐treated dominant matrilines, whose dams' androgen function was intact versus blocked owing to experimental antagonism of the latter's androgen receptors (using Flutamide). Foetal offspring thus experienced three different endocrine environments (‘high’, ‘lower’ and ‘blocked’ androgens) late in prenatal development. We assessed parasitism, immune function, sex steroid concentrations and survivorship in these three offspring groups, both during juvenility and early adulthood. The juvenile offspring of subordinate control and dominant treated dams generally had lower intensities of parasite infections and greater immune function than did their peers from dominant control dams—patterns not found in adult offspring, or in relation to the offspring's concurrent hormone concentrations. Survivorship to adulthood was greatest in the progeny of treated dams. Descendants of dominant female meerkats—those in the ‘high’ prenatal androgen category—suffered increased parasitism and decreased immunocompetence as juveniles, as well as reduced survivorship relative to antiandrogen‐exposed peers, providing evidence in mammals that maternal androgens can negatively impact offspring health and survival. These intergenerational, androgen‐mediated, health effects represent early costs imposed by female intrasexual competition and its associated selection pressures.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Organizational and activational androgens, lemur social play, and the ontogeny of female dominance

  Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) · 2024-05-07

  articleOpen access

  The role of androgens in shaping “masculine” traits in males is a core focus in behavioral endocrinology, but relatively little is known about an androgenic role in female aggression and social dominance. In mammalian models of female dominance, including the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), links to androgens in adulthood are variable. We studied the development of ring-tailed lemurs to address the behavioral basis and ontogenetic mechanisms of female dominance. We measured behavior and serum androgen concentrations in 24 lemurs (8 males, 16 females) from infancy to early adulthood, and assessed their ‘prenatal’ androgen milieu using serum samples obtained from their mothers during gestation. Because logistical constraints limited the frequency of infant blood sampling, we accounted for asynchrony between behavioral and postnatal hormone measurements via imputation procedures. Imputation was unnecessary for prenatal hormone measurements. The typical sex difference in androgen concentrations in young lemurs was consistent with adult conspecifics and most other mammals; however, we found no significant sex differences in rough-and-tumble play. Female (but not male) aggression increased beginning at approximately 15 months, coincident with female puberty. In our analyses relating sexually differentiated behavior to androgens, we found no relationship with activational hormones, but several significant relationships with organizational hormones. Notably, associations of prenatal androstenedione and testosterone with behavior were differentiated, both by offspring sex and by type of behavior within offspring sexes. We discuss the importance of considering (1) missing data in behavioral endocrinology research, and (2) organizational androgens other than testosterone in studies of female dominance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Eulemur as a Primate Model for Oxytocin System Evolution and Function

  NSF · $165k · 2018–2021

• Doctoral Dissertation Research: Gut microbiomes in primates: Effects of environment and population history

  NSF · $25k · 2018–2019

• The microbiome and condition-dependent signals in primates

  NSF · $410k · 2018–2025

• Patterns of lemur reproductive and behavioral development

  NSF · $338k · 2004–2008

• Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The Impact of Genetic Health on Parasite Prevalence, Diversity, and Burden in Wild Ring-Tailed Lemurs, Lemur catta

  NSF · $25k · 2012–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Tim Clutton‐Brock

  45 shared

• Lydia K. Greene

  Duke University

  43 shared

• Kendra Smyth

  Kalahari Meerkat Project

  24 shared

• Charli S. Davies

  University of East Anglia

  22 shared

• Nicholas M. Grebe

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  17 shared

• Javier delBarco‐Trillo

  Illinois State University

  16 shared

• Mary L. Weldele

  University of California, Berkeley

  15 shared

• W. Gerald Robison

  14 shared

Education

• MA, PhD, Psychology

  Emory University