Cranes sperm

2001/04/03 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia

The cranes are slender and elegant birds. But there are also other amazing things. The Moscow Zoo is carrying out the breeding plan for nine species of cranes that exist since 1982. For this purpose the females artificially fertilize. Previously, males are desperate by special massages. The method used for the study by sperm microscope and the useful for the fertilization of females.

During their performance they discover a strange event. That is, the quality and quantity of sperm is not the same throughout the year, even if it is able to copulate. Females are at certain times of the year and although males can bump throughout the year, it is then that they create the best sperm. Moreover, the ideal time for the fertilization of the females is the day after the laying of the last egg of the txitada, when the sperm is of maximum quality and greater quantity.

But how do males know when that time has come? How to give physiological response? In many animals the smell indicates the cycle of the females, but the bird in general and the cranes in particular do not have good smell. How then? Researchers at the Moscow zoo believe that the hormonal response is caused by sound. Crane couples make noises throughout the year and realize that females produce different noises. More research is needed, but they believe the answer may be there.