Camelid Pregnancy Diagnosis - Anatomy & Physiology

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Rejection Behaviour

• Rejection of the male usually indicates that conception may have taken place.
• Not very reliable, since a persistent corpus luteum will also cause rejection.
  • A persistent corpus luteum may cause continued rejection by a non-pregnant female.

Ultrasound Scanning

Ultrasound scanning is the most reliable method of diagnosing pregnancy and can be highly accurate. However, ~10% of established pregnancies fail, so a positive scan will not guarantee live cria.

• Possible only a few days after conception.
• For early scans, a rectal probe must be used.
  • Rarely practiced because the procedure causes much stress to the female, which is undesirable if she is pregnant.
• More commonly scanned using a transabdominal probe from ~28 days onwards.

Blood Testing

• Blood tests to measure progesterone concentration.
• Level of progesterone required to maintain pregnancy varies.
  • Cria have been born to dams with very low plasma progesterone concentrations.
• Variability makes blood tests unreliable.

Rectal Examination

• Manual palpation of the uterus through the rectal wall.
• Impractical for smaller females.
• Will cause undesirable stress to the female.