Zainuddin Zainal Zahari, Sipangkui Symphorosa, Farqhan Kelana Mohd, Chee Yap Keng, Tarmizi Mohamed Reza Mohamed, Comizzoli Pierre
Borneo Rhino Alliance, c/o Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Front Vet Sci. 2021 Mar 12;8:658573. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.658573. eCollection 2021.
The binturong is a medium size carnivore belonging to the Viverrid family that lives in dense forests of South-East Asia. In addition to the protection of this vulnerable species in its natural habitat (), conservation breeding efforts () aim at maintaining a good genetic diversity while increasing the number of individuals to reinforce wild populations. Both approaches require a solid understanding of binturong's basic biology. However, there is still a lack of precise information about reproduction. The objective of this brief research report was to analyze testicular sizes and semen characteristics at different times of the year to better understand the reproductive physiology and inform future conservation efforts. A secondary objective was to describe sperm cryotolerance for the first time in that species. Examinations of testes and semen collections were conducted on two adult males. While testicular measurements were relatively constant across multiple examinations, semen characteristics (volume, viability, sperm concentrations, sperm motility) varied between samples. However, incidence of sperm morphological abnormalities was consistently high. Sperm cryotolerance appeared to be poor but further studies are warranted. The present dataset will be useful for future research on binturong reproduction and for the development of assisted reproductive techniques and biobanking of germplasms in that species.
熊狸是一种中等体型的食肉动物，属于灵猫科，生活在东南亚的茂密森林中。除了在其自然栖息地保护这种濒危物种外，圈养繁殖工作旨在在增加个体数量以加强野生种群的同时，保持良好的遗传多样性。这两种方法都需要对熊狸的基本生物学有深入的了解。然而，关于其繁殖方面仍缺乏精确的信息。本简短研究报告的目的是分析一年中不同时间的睾丸大小和精液特征，以更好地了解其生殖生理学，并为未来的保护工作提供参考。第二个目标是首次描述该物种精子的耐冻性。对两只成年雄性熊狸进行了睾丸检查和精液采集。虽然多次检查中睾丸测量值相对稳定，但不同样本之间的精液特征（体积、活力、精子浓度、精子活力）有所不同。然而，精子形态异常的发生率一直很高。精子的耐冻性似乎较差，但仍需进一步研究。本数据集将有助于未来对熊狸繁殖的研究，以及该物种辅助生殖技术的开发和种质资源库的建立。
