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Eight species of pangolin have been identified in the world. However, understanding of pangolin reproductive biology has been limited to fragmentary records. In this study, the concentration of serum progesterone in three pregnant and two nonpregnant rescued female Formosan pangolins ( Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) was monitored using a commercial progesterone radioimmunoassay kit. During gestation, the serum progesterone of pregnant pangolins A, B, and C remained at 28.5-55 ng/ml ( n = 31 samples), 10.9-50.1 ng/ml ( n = 34), and 12.4 and 33.5 ng/ml with a peak at 47.6 ng/ml ( n = 19), respectively, whereas the serum progesterone of nonpregnant pangolins D and E remained at 1.99 ± 1.62 ng/ml ( n = 80) and 2.27 ± 1.64 ng/ml ( n = 27), respectively. From this study, it was found that female pangolin weighing as low as 2.14 kg was already capable of reproduction. For pregnant pangolins to give birth to viable offspring, their body weight must increase significantly, 63.89 and 134.0% in the study, from the time of inception or early pregnancy until parturition. In addition, study has found that both viable offspring were born fully developed and exceeded 80 g in weight. The period of gestation was found to be as short as 318 or longer than 372 days. Therefore, the Formosan pangolin should only be able to reproduce once a year. This study is the first insight into hormone assay for determining the gestation period of pangolin. Further investigations on the same subject are necessary to establish criteria for the recognition of reproductive status in pangolins. Zoo Biol 31:479-489, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of 163 spontaneous neoplasms diagnosed in 150 necropsied zoo mammals, birds, and reptiles at Taipei Zoo during 1994-2003 were analyzed. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry were employed to classify the tumor types. A total of 2657 necropsied zoo animals, including 1335 mammals, 873 birds and 449 reptiles led to the diagnosis of tumor in 8.1% (108/1335), 4.2% (37/873) and 1.1% (5/449) of cases, respectively. The most predominant type of tumors in mammals was mammary gland tumors (12.0%, 13/108), followed by uterine smooth muscle tumors (10.2%, 11/108), lymphosarcoma (9.3%, 10/108), hepatocellular carcinoma (8.3%, 9/108), and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (6.5%, 7/108). The avian neoplasm with the highest incidence was lymphosarcoma (35.1%, 13/37). Five individual neoplasms were found in different reptile species. The overall incidence of malignant tumors (63.8%, 104/163) was greater than that of benign tumors (36.2%, 59/163). Immunohistochemistry characterization of these tumors revealed a histogenesis which is similar to that seen in domestic animals and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Semen from the chimpanzee species becomes a colloidal solid after ejaculation. The formation of this copulatory plug is believed to prevent additional spermatozoa of subsequent mating events from accessing the ova. However, this naturally preserved strategy hampers the processes for sperm preparation. In this study, we investigated whether collagenase can be used to degelify the semen plug and accelerate the semen liquefaction process in zoo captive chimpanzee species (Pan troglodytes). Results: We showed that incubation of chimpanzee ejaculates with 0.1% type I collagenase efficiently and significantly (p < 0.05) releases 2.7-fold more spermatozoa from the coagulated ejaculates, and this degelification process did not alter sperm morphology or viability; nor did it stimulate spontaneous capacitation or an acrosome reaction as assessed by tyrosine phosphorylation and peanut agglutinin stains; moreover, based on computer assisted sperm analysis assay, motility-related parameters remained similar to those of untreated spermatozoa. When collagenase effects were evaluated on cryopreserved sperm samples, we observed post collagenase treatment in which 2.5% glycerol, as a cryoprotectant, preserved sperm acrosome integrity better than 7.8%; however, 7.8% glycerol, as a cryoprotectant, maintained sperm motility better than that of 2.5% glycerol. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated for the first time that type I collagenase can be used to obtain a significantly higher number of spermatozoa from colloid chimpanzee semen ejaculate without affecting the physiological properties of spermatozoa, and these results are critical for the subsequent gamete development. Our results would benefit sperm preparation processes and cryopreservation efficiency per ejaculate, as more unaffected spermatozoa can be released from the semen plug within a shorter period of time. These results would also benefit the genetic diversity of the chimpanzee species, using sperm cells from less dominant individuals, and for achieving better pregnancy success in primates with significantly higher amounts of sperm for artificial insemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]