Analysis of Sex Steroids in Feces of Giant Pandas(Reproductive Biology)

概要

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Concentrations of testosterone (T) and estradiol-17β (E_2) in feces were measured in giant pandas (Ailuropoda melenoleuca). Feces were collected almost monthly from October 1987 to August 1988 and from June 1989 to July 1990, from captured pandas (a male and a female adult pandas and their two children) at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo. The elder child born in 1986 was identified later as the female and the younger one born in 1988 as the male. The concentrations of T in feces of the adult male was always higher than that in the female when compared in the same month. The concentration of E_2 in feces of the adults did not show clear difference between sexes. In the adult female, a high E_2 peak was observed in March of 1988, when it showed estrus and was artificially inseminated. No E_2 peak was detected in the spring of 1990, when it did not show clear estrus. Concentrations of T and E_2 in the children, especially in the younger child, were relatively low and variable. They showed no consistent seasonal changes. These results suggest that the sexing of adult pandas is possible by comparing the concentration of T in feces. Peaks of the fecal steroid content seem to show roughly reproductive condition of an animal, suggesting a possibility that ovulation can be detected in the female panda by the fecal E_2 analysis.
1992-10-15