Author:
Nave C. D.,Shaw G.,Short R. V.,Renfree M. B.
Abstract
The effect of subcutaneous levonorgestrel implants on reproduction
in female tammar wallabies was investigated during the breeding and
non-breeding season. Female tammars were given either a control or a
levonorgestrel implant and their pouch young were removed to terminate
embryonic diapause. Both the control and the levonorgestrel-implant animals
treated during the months of May and June gave birth, demonstrating that
levonorgestrel does not prevent the reactivation of the diapausing blastocyst
or its subsequent development when given at these times. However, none of the
levonorgestrel-treated animals mated post partum, whereas all of the control
females that gave birth had a post partum oestrus and mated. Control animals
gave birth again when the neonate was removed, and continued to breed normally
during the following 36 months of the investigation. None of the
levonorgestrel-treated animals gave birth again or mated during the next 36
months. Animals given control implants during December did not reactivate or
give birth until the normal start of the breeding season in late January.
Animals treated with levonorgestrel implants during December did not
reactivate with the control animals at the beginning of the breeding season
and did not give birth during the next 36 months. There were no effects of
lev-onorgestrel treatment on early lactation. Levonorgestrel implants were
removed from six females and four of these animals resumed reproductive
activity, confirming that the contraceptive effect of the implants is
reversible. Levonorgestrel implants therefore provide a highly effective,
reversible and long-term method of contraception for tammar wallabies. This
contraceptive system appears to offer a method of population control for the
management of overabundant captive and selected wild populations of macropodid
marsupials.
Subject
Developmental Biology,Endocrinology,Genetics,Molecular Biology,Animal Science and Zoology,Reproductive Medicine,Biotechnology
Cited by
24 articles.
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