Semen Characteristics and Gross Testicular Morphornetry in Timor deer (cervus timorensis) stags during the annual antler cycle

Abstract

Intensive husbandry of several cervid species located in temperate environments has precipitated in our understanding of the stag patterns of reproductive cycles and in the development of artificial breeding technologies. Circanual patterns of antler cycle correlated with circanual patterns of testicular function and reflecting changes in semen production in red deer (Cemus elaphus; Asher et al. 1994; Gizejewski et al. 2002 2). The research on the reproductive biology of timor deer stag was aimed to provide basic information on the interrelationship between gross testicular morphometry and semen quality based on natural antler development stages i.e, the velvet and hard antler stages. Results of this research hopefully could be used to determine the active reproductive period as the basic strategy of the deer stag.