Publicação
Mexican gray wolf courtship and mating : behavior & basic endocrinology during breeding season
| Resumo: | The Mexican gray wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. It is officially “endangered” and its survival relies on good captive management and breeding programs. The present study’s main purpose is behavior evaluation and hormonal profile assessment during proestrus and estrus, in this species. Behavioral data and feces were obtained during the breeding season at the Endangered Wolf Center, and analyzed at the Saint Louis Zoo. Several behaviors presented moderate correlations. Differences were found between the frequencies of some behaviors in the pre and post conception periods. The average number of days between first detected Mount and first Copulatory Tie was three. Most frequent behaviors were described as well. A progesterone peak, associated with the onset of estrus, often coincided with the occurrence of Mounts and Copulatory Ties. Our predictions for conception dates were mostly in agreement with the existing hormonal data. These observations can be a basis for future reproductive situations – they allow for a better estimate of the ideal timing for Artificial Insemination and they add knowledge on reproductive patterns that characterize the breeding season of this species. |
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| Autores principais: | Castro, Ana Mafalda Lopes Sardica Velez de |
| Assunto: | Mexican wolves breeding season behavior reproductive hormones conservation Lobos mexicanos época de acasalamento comportamento hormonas reprodutivas conservação |
| Ano: | 2016 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | The Mexican gray wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. It is officially “endangered” and its survival relies on good captive management and breeding programs. The present study’s main purpose is behavior evaluation and hormonal profile assessment during proestrus and estrus, in this species. Behavioral data and feces were obtained during the breeding season at the Endangered Wolf Center, and analyzed at the Saint Louis Zoo. Several behaviors presented moderate correlations. Differences were found between the frequencies of some behaviors in the pre and post conception periods. The average number of days between first detected Mount and first Copulatory Tie was three. Most frequent behaviors were described as well. A progesterone peak, associated with the onset of estrus, often coincided with the occurrence of Mounts and Copulatory Ties. Our predictions for conception dates were mostly in agreement with the existing hormonal data. These observations can be a basis for future reproductive situations – they allow for a better estimate of the ideal timing for Artificial Insemination and they add knowledge on reproductive patterns that characterize the breeding season of this species. |
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