Description of ovarian activity during puerperium in females of the genus Mazama (Mammalia; Cervidae)

• Grant number: 18/00198-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2018
• End date: May 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: José Maurício Barbanti Duarte
• Grantee: Mariana de Britto Abrahão
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Cervidae family currently has 56 species distributed on almost every continent. Among cervids of the Neotropical region, the species of the genus Mazama, especially M. bororo, M. nana and M. nemorivaga are the least known. The first two are classified as vulnerable and the third does not have sufficient data for categorization. The use of reproductive biotechniques in endangered species assists in their conservation and, for their development, the basic knowledge of the reproductive biology of animals is fundamental. In this context, this work aims to characterize the ovarian activity during the puerperium, determining the presence or absence of lactational anestrous in these three cervid species. For this, the non-invasive monitoring of progestin metabolites from feces will be used to infer the ovarian activity in the study period. As there are a limited number of captive animals of these species, one female of each species will be used, totaling three animals. Fecal collection will be done once a day at the same time, for up to 150 days after parturition. The samples will be stored in a freezer at -20ºC until they are processed. The feces will have the hormones extracted in methanol and the dosages will be performed by the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method.