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Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

DOI

10.55730/1300-0128.4330

Abstract

The study was carried out on Panthera species (4 lions and 5 tigers) housed in Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bengaluru, and Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysuru. Estrus behavior such as rolling, licking, nudging, chuffing, frequent urination, whitish discharge, vocalisation, lordosis and copulatory behavior such as vocalisation, allowed to be mounted, aggression towards male, mounting, and biting of the nape of female were exhibited both in lions and tigers which helped to identify the time of fecal sample collection. The study’s main aim was to carry out noninvasive and noncontact pregnancy detection in these wild felids. Feces samples collected from the female animals on day 0 (day of mating), 30, 45, 60, 90, 100, and 10th day postpartum were analysed for 13, 14– dihydro–15–keto–PGF2α metabolite (PGFM) levels using Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA). A significant increase in PGFM concentrations was seen from day 45 to day 60 in pregnant lionesses and tigresses used to detect pregnancy. The PGFM levels from day 60 were significantly different between pregnant and nonpregnant lionesses and tigresses. The PGFM levels were found to rise from day 45 and drop to basal levels by day 60 in 2 tigresses which may be due to fetal resorption. This study effectively detected pregnancy in lionesses and tigresses between day 45 and day 60 but requires further investigation due to the paucity in literature about PGFM analysis in tigers and lions.

Keywords

Lioness, tigress, pregnancy, PGF2α metabolite, enzyme immunoassay

First Page

598

Last Page

604

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