Clark M M, Spencer C A, Galef B G
Lab Anim. 1986 Oct;20(4):313-5. doi: 10.1258/002367786780808730.
The productivity of breeding colonies of Mongolian gerbils can be substantially enhanced by using as breeding stock only the 40% of females that exhibit vaginal opening before reaching 25 days of age. Early-maturing females are more likely to breed successfully on first pairing. The lifetime fecundity of early-maturing females is more than twice that of their late-maturing sisters. In those cases in which early-maturing females fail to breed with the first male with which they are paired, they (but not late-maturing females) can be mated with a second male with a high probability of success. Two-thirds of the early-maturing females that failed to reproduce following a first pairing became pregnant following a second. Only 11% of late-maturing females did so.
仅选用在25日龄前出现阴道开口的40%雌性蒙古沙鼠作为繁殖种畜，可大幅提高繁殖群体的生产力。早熟雌性在首次配对时更有可能成功繁殖。早熟雌性的终生繁殖力是晚熟姐妹的两倍多。在早熟雌性未能与首次配对的雄性成功繁殖的情况下，它们（而非晚熟雌性）与第二只雄性交配成功的概率很高。首次配对后未能繁殖的早熟雌性中有三分之二在第二次配对后怀孕。晚熟雌性中只有11%做到了这一点。
