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.

Foetal Heartbeat

  • Specialist listening devices such as 'Sonicaid' can detect a foetal heartbeat from ~10 weeks of gestation.
  • 80-90% accurat if used at ~10 weeks.
  • Becomes more difficult as the foetus enlarges and slides down into the abdomen.