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Besides chemical testing, thermographic imaging is a possible method to determine pregnancy in some animals. Hilsberg (2001) defined the unilateral warming at the end of a pregnancy, caused by the metabolizing fetus and the uterus near the outer skin, as the pregnancy field. Its appearance was observed in various species at the end of the gestation period. No studies were yet carried out to investigate the changing of thermal patterns during pregnancy. This study monitored the thermographic changes of one pregnant babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa) sow and one babirusa male by taking thermal images once a week from the estimated 3rd pregnancy week until parturition in the 23rd pregnancy week. Images were searched manually for heat areas correlated to pregnancy as well as analysed automatically for median and maximum temperatures of the animal's side. Additionally, the locations of all pixels, which were not more than 2 K below the maximum temperature, were evaluated. In the female, there was a positive correlation between maximum temperatures of left and right side to pregnancy weeks (R = 0.61, R = 0.66, respectively; p 0.05). The female's median temperatures and all temperatures of the male were not correlated to pregnancy weeks. Differences between median and maximum temperatures were significantly different during the 2nd, and 3rd trimester in the female, but not in the male. Temperature differences between 1st and 2nd trimester were not significant in both animals. The location of the warmest areas in the female shifted from thorax and flank to be mainly localised on the teats. In the male, the warmest areas remain localised on thorax and flank. No distinct pregnancy field was observed, but the warming of the teats could be seen in the images and the evaluated data. The teats are less insulated in most animals. Contraindications for thermal imaging like insulation could therefore become less important, allowing thermal pregnancy diagnosis for a larger range of animals than before. Based on these findings we suggest that the warming of the teats could be used for thermal pregnancy diagnosis when a pregnancy field is not observable.

Reproductive management in zoos requires contraception or physical separation of sexes to ensure captive population viability, but information is sparse on the effects of parity, age, and contraceptive use on lifetime reproductive health in captive Suidae and Tayassuidae species. This retrospective study evaluated reproductive tissues and histories from babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), Vietnamese pot-bellied pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), domestic cross pig (Sus scrofa), Sunda island pig (Sus celebensis timoriensis), Eurasian boar (Sus scrofa), Bornean bearded pig (Sus barbatus), Ossabaw island hog (Sus scrofa domesticus), Guinea hog (Sus scrofa domesticus), Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri), and collared peccary (Pecari tajacu). Age, parity, litter size, time-since-last-parturition, contraception exposure and type, and lesion prevalence were recorded. Reported chemical contraceptives used in females included porcine zona pellucida vaccine, progestins, GnRH analogues (deslorelin and leuprolide). Average litter size was significantly different between species (p 0.0001) with the common warthog having the largest average litter size (3.5 ± 0.2 offspring/litter). There was a trend for age to be positively correlated with leiomyoma/sarcomas (r = 0.6135; p = 0.0789). Progestins (medroxyprogesterone acetate, megestrol acetate, depomedroxyprogesterone acetate) were positively correlated (r = 0.8946; p = 0.0161) and GnRH analogues (deslorelin, leuprolide; subcutaneous) were negatively correlated with ovarian cysts (r = 0.9743; p = 0.0010). Across all species, there was a trend for age to be negatively correlated with folliculogenesis (r = -0.6528; p = 0.0566) and parturition gap length to be negatively correlated with follicular cysts (r = -0.8944; p = 0.1). Common warthog, babirusa, and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs had the greatest diversity of uterine lesions and the highest prevalence of reproductive tract lesions of all species evaluated. Four of the 27 males (14.5%) in the dataset had testicular tumors. All males had prominent testicular interstitial cell populations, which appears to be within normal limits for these species. These data suggest prolonged gaps between pregnancies, age, and contraception are risk factors for reproductive tract lesions in Suidae.

The objectives of this study were to analyse faecal steroid metabolites in African and South East Asian pig species kept in European zoos. Species studied were the warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), the red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus) and the babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa). Faecal samples were collected 1-3 times per week from non-pregnant and pregnant captive female warthogs (n = 9), red river hogs (n = 7) and babirusas (n = 5). Enzyme-immunoassays for faecal progesterone, androgen, and oestrogen metabolites, were tested for their ability to determine follicular and luteal phases. In all three species, oestrous cycles could be monitored with 20alpha-OH- and 20-oxo-pregnane assays. In contrast, oestrogens and androgens were not useful in characterising follicular activity during the oestrous cycle in any species. Faecal 20alpha-OH- and 20-oxo-pregnane values were significantly correlated. Faecal pregnane concentrations revealed species-specific differences. Luteal phase values of 20alpha-OH-pregnanes were considerably higher than 20-oxo-pregnanes; 20alpha-OH-pregnanes were in the range of 3-10 microg/g in warthogs and red river hogs, whereas concentrations were 30-200 microg/g faeces in the babirusa. Regular oestrus cycles had a length of about 35 days in all three species studied. Results indicated a seasonal influence on the occurrence of reproductive cycles in the warthog with anoestrous periods in the European summer. The red river hog was found to be a seasonal and poly oestrous breeder; oestrus cycles started by January and continued until summer. In contrast, the babirusa showed non-seasonal ovarian cyclicity. In pregnant red river hogs, progesterone metabolites were comparable to luteal phase values of the oestrous cycle during the first 3 months of gestation, but did further increase during the last month of pregnancy. Oestrogens and 17-oxo-androstanes were significantly elevated during the second half of gestation. In summary, the reproductive biology of three exotic pig species was studied using non-invasive faecal steroid analysis and these methods were used for comparative investigations of oestrous cycles, pregnancy and seasonality.

We collected two long-term datasets documenting the trade in two endemic wild pig species in North Sulawesi, Indonesia—a 6-year survey of the end market and records of all transactions by a wild pig dealer during three periods over a 10-year period. Analysis of these data show that the number of babirusas (an endangered, endemic, protected species of wild pig) on sale in the end market is strongly influenced by law enforcement activities, although dealer habituation is reducing the effects of these interventions. We demonstrate that dealers drove significantly farther to buy wild pigs, paid more for them and bought fewer in 1997 than 1988. These trends are consistent with resource depletion, but we show that they are also likely to be caused by market changes. We suggest that long-term, spatially explicit studies are important for the assessment of the sustainability of the wildlife trade, as they provide the potential for disentangling the influences of market dynamics from population declines, and thereby assist in interpreting changes in prices and quantities on sale in end markets.

Stone Age style was all about the latest animal necklaces and bracelets. Some of the first humans to cross the ocean from Asia to Australia fashioned jewelry from the bones, teeth and shells of the unfamiliar creatures they found on islands along the way. The finding adds to evidence that early inhabitants of Australasia had symbolic practices that were just as rich as those of their European counterparts. A team led by Adam Brumm and Michelle Langley at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, has dug up three ancient ornaments created from the bones and a tooth of native animals on the island of Sulawesi, north-west of Timor. One is a pendant made from the finger bone of a bear cuscus (Ailurops ursinus), a tree-dwelling marsupial. A hole drilled in the top suggests it was strung from a necklace or bracelet. The other two are beads made from the tooth of an odd-looking pig known as a babirusa or pig deer (of the genus Babyrousa). The ornaments--between 22,000 and 30000 years old--were found in an inland cave