College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Item
    A study of the ovarian activity of the royal antelope (Neotragus Pygmaeus L.) in the humid forest zone of Ghana
    ( 1998) Lamptey, Ernest Lante
    Ovarian activity of the royal antelope (Neotragus pygmaeus L) was studied for 12 months by examining 324 female carcasses at the fresh bushmeat market at ‘Atwemonom’, Kumasi. The results indicate that royal antelopes are polyoestrous throughout the year with only one egg being ovulated during each cycle and also that ovulation occurs at random between the left and the right ovaries- There were no statistically significant differences in the activity of the ovaries between the dry (November - February) and the wet (March - October) seasons at the 5% significance level. Similarly, no statistically significant differences were found between the closed (August-November) and the hunting (December-July) seasons in the activity of the ovaries. It was also observed that, implantation of the fertilised egg always occurred unilaterally in the right uterine horn irrespective of whether ovulation took place in the left or the right ovary. Pregnancies occurred throughout the year with a peak towards the end of the wet season (October) which also fell within the closed season of hunting of wild animals. This observation might suggest justification for the closed season for the hunting of wild animals imposed by the Wildlife Department. Royal antelopes are monotocous and give birth throughout the year. The births are bimodally distributed with peaks in the wet seasons (April-June and September).