Harmless pregnancy test devised for wild animals

16-08-2011
Harmless pregnancy test devised for wild animals
Deccan Chronicle By Syed Akbar
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/harmless-pregnancy-test-devised-wild-animals-165

In a major effort to save wild and rare animals from extinction, scientists at the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology have perfected the art of ascertaining whether an animal is pregnant or not by measuring the steroids present in its faeces.

In a major effort to save wild and rare animals from extinction, scientists at the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology have perfected the art of ascertaining whether an animal is pregnant or not by measuring the steroids present in its faeces.

Using the faecal matter to find out if a wild animal is pregnant is a non-invasive process and the animal need not be subjected to daily blood tests.

"To know whether an animal is pregnant through assisted reproductive technology, we need to analyse the blood samples on a daily basis. For this we need to collect blood from the animal every day. Since the animal is wild, it has to be sedated before collecting the sample. This might affect its health. Our method of using faecal steroid hormones eliminates the need for daily blood analysis," said CCMB senior scientist Dr S. Shivaji.

Assisted reproductive technology is one of the methods adopted worldwide by scientists to boost the numbers of endangered species. Here the female is brought to "heat" or ovulation through artificial methods like using hormones. Later, sperm is inseminated artificially. Once the process is over, it becomes difficult to monitor whether the animal is pregnant or not.

Analysis of faecal steroid hormones will do away with the hazardous process of sedating the animal on a daily basis to collect blood samples. "There's the problem of pseudo pregnancy in cats, whether big or domestic. We can rule out pseudo pregnancy too through our tests," Dr Shivaji added.

The faecal steroid hormone study was first conducted by the CCMB team on the Asiatic lion, which is listed as a critically endangered species with only a couple of dozen left in the Gir forests. The team successfully monitored the induction of oestrus and ovulation in the Asiatic lion using non-invasive faecal steroid assay.

"Besides captive breeding, assisted reproduction using techniques such as semen collection, in vitro fertilisation, artificial insemination and embryo transfer could also facilitate propagation of the rare and endangered animals," he added.