Development and evaluation of electroejaculation techniques in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

Keeley, Tamara; Harris, M. S.; McGreevy, Paul D.; Hudson, D. S.; O’Brien, Justine K.

doi:10.1071/rd12022

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Serum cortisol concentration was determined by a cortisol enzyme-immunoassay [ 32 ]. Serum samples were diluted 1:6 in assay buffer prior to analysis and a serial dilution of a pool of randomly-selected serum samples demonstrated parallelism with the standard curve.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Calves to Marshalling and Roping in a Simulated Rodeo Event

Sinclair

Keeley

Lefebvre

et al. 2016

Animals

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Simple SummaryRodeos often include a calf roping event, where calves are first lassoed by a rider on a horse, who then dismounts, ties the calves’ legs, lifts it from the ground and releases it back to the floor. We tested whether calves that were familiar to the roping experience stress during the roping event, and found increased concentrations of stress hormones in their blood after the roping. We also found increased concentrations of stress hormones in the blood of calves that had never been roped before but were just marshelled across the arena by the horse and rider. We conclude that the roping event in rodeos is stressful for both experienced and naïve calves. AbstractRodeos are public events at which stockpeople face tests of their ability to manage cattle and horses, some of which relate directly to rangeland cattle husbandry. One of these is calf roping, in which a calf released from a chute is pursued by a horse and rider, who lassoes, lifts and drops the calf to the ground and finally ties it around the legs. Measurements were made of behavior and stress responses of ten rodeo-naïve calves marshalled by a horse and rider, and ten rodeo-experienced calves that were roped. Naïve calves marshalled by a horse and rider traversed the arena slowly, whereas rodeo-experienced calves ran rapidly until roped. Each activity was repeated once after two hours. Blood samples taken before and after each activity demonstrated increased cortisol, epinephrine and nor-epinephrine in both groups. However, there was no evidence of a continued increase in stress hormones in either group by the start of the repeated activity, suggesting that the elevated stress hormones were not a response to a prolonged effect of the initial blood sampling. It is concluded that both the marshalling of calves naïve to the roping chute by stockpeople and the roping and dropping of experienced calves are stressful in a simulated rodeo calf roping event.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Calves to Marshalling and Roping in a Simulated Rodeo Event

Sinclair

Keeley

Lefebvre

et al. 2016

Animals

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“…human approach or handling). The mean baseline plasma cortisol values (T0; 1.06 ± 1.41 ng/mL) of captive SHNWs found in this study were generally comparable to Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii; Keeley et al 2012), koalas (basal 1.101 ± 0.53 ng/mL; Davies et al 2013) and results from the other observations of captive SHNWs (basal 0.40 ± 0.71 ng/mL; Hogan et al 2011a).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Future studies investigating the seasonal changes in motile sperm density/motility based on studying a larger population of captive male SHNWs are needed to confirm this. While the cause and significance of the phenomenon of motile sperm in the urine remain unclear, it was noted that the pH of SHNW urine collected (6.2~7.1) was in a range compatible for sperm survival (Keeley et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The assessment of reproductive function, behaviour and adrenal physiology in captive male southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons)

Du¹

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Southern hairy-nosed wombats (SHNW; Lasiorhinus latifrons) rarely breed successfully in captivity, which has been primarily associated with a dearth of knowledge concerning their reproductive physiology and behaviour. One approach to better understanding those parameters that might influence captive wombat husbandry and management is the application of non-invasive techniques that facilitate evaluation of reproductive and adrenal hormones. Non-invasive urine samples are ideal for the assessment of both reproductive capacity and adrenal function in captive wildlife species but robust biological validation is initially required to confirm the reliability of this information. Once validated, animal behaviour can then be mapped in parallel with urinary hormone metabolites, and data from spermatorrhoea, to more precisely determine the success or otherwise of husbandry practices focused on reproductive success.

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“…Sperm collection by electroejaculation has been successful in some model and iconic species, providing great promise for technology development pathways (e.g., bare-nosed [V. ursinus] and southern hairy-nosed [Lasiorhinus latifrons] wombats, koala, brushtail possum [T. vulpecula], yellow-footed rock-wallaby, and tammar wallaby) (Johnston et al, 1994;Paris et al, 2005b;Taggart et al, 1995Taggart et al, , 1996Taggart et al, , 1998 (Appendices S10, S12, & S13). This contrasts with less progress in other species for which sperm collection procedures remain unavailable, particularly the smaller dasyurids, due to small size, seasonal variation in sperm production, small semen volume and contamination, and low sperm concentration (Keeley et al, 2012;Rodger et al, 2009) (Appendix S15). Some of these species-specific research challenges highlight the importance of our proposed pathways for various marsupial groups, where, for example, an innovation that allowed sperm extraction from the smaller, common dunnart model species (stripe-faced dunnart [S. macroura] and fat-tailed dunnart [S. crassicaudata]) could be transferred to threatened species in the family Dasyuridae, which are of similar body size, such as the Kangaroo Island dunnart and the dibbler (Appendix S15).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling genetic benefits and financial costs of integrating biobanking into the conservation breeding of managed marsupials

Howell

Mawson

Comizzoli

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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Development and evaluation of electroejaculation techniques in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

Cited by 9 publications

References 49 publications

Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Calves to Marshalling and Roping in a Simulated Rodeo Event

Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Calves to Marshalling and Roping in a Simulated Rodeo Event

The assessment of reproductive function, behaviour and adrenal physiology in captive male southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons)

Modeling genetic benefits and financial costs of integrating biobanking into the conservation breeding of managed marsupials

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