Monitoring and controlling ovarian activities in wild ungulates

Reproductive success in females relies primarily upon better understanding of fundamental ovarian processes to facilitate captive reproductive management and ultimately the development of assisted reproductive technologies as an alternative tool for conservation breeding of endangered wildlife species. Wild ungulates (cervids and non-domestic bovids) are an extraordinarily diverse group of mammals with remarkable diversity in reproductive biology (anatomy, behaviour, physiology and seasonality). This indicates a clear need, and indeed a big challenge, for acquiring such basic reproductive knowledge in severely threatened ungulates before attempting even a simpler technology such as artificial insemination. Despite a few sporadic successes of artificial insemination technology in ungulates, there is much to learn, including optimizing estrus synchronization protocols and an animal-friendly fixed-time insemination procedure that would maximize breeding success with minimal stress to the animal. Recent advances in non-invasive methodologies for monitoring endocrine profiles and assessment of ovarian function in wildlife species enable us to understand and characterize basic reproductive events in a species. This review discusses non-invasive approaches being used for monitoring endocrine and ovarian activity in wild ungulates. Further, it reviews the effectiveness of different methodologies for control of estrus and ovulation in non-domestic bovids and cervids. Additionally, the challenges regarding their application in different ungulates as a standard routine practice like in livestock are addressed.