Body Temperature and Circulating Progesterone Levels before and after Parturition in Killer Whales (Orcinus orca)

Abstract

Abstract. Killer whales were used to evaluate peripartum changes and interactions between body temperature and circulating progesterone concentration. Daily body temperature was measured between 0800 h and 0830 h before activity. Body temperature clearly increased during the first phase of pregnancy, and this was followed by a gradual decline until full term. The initial increase was paralleled by circulating levels of progesterone. A decrease in body temperature was first detected on day 5 (p<0.01) before parturition, and body temperature decreased significantly every 2 days until delivery. Five days before delivery, body temperature was 0.3 C lower than the mean value during the pregnancy period, and the decrease was more marked on day 1 before delivery (0.8 C). Serum progesterone levels during pregnancy showed a general pattern of initial rapid elevation (increasing phase), followed by a gradual decline (decreasing phase) throughout the remainder of pregnancy. However, statistically significant correlations between body temperature and progesterone pattern were only found only during the increasing phase. These results suggest that monitoring body temperature variation can be considered valuable for predicting impending parturition in killer whales.

Relationship Between Body Temperature and Ovarian Cycle in Asian and African Elephants

“…A relationship between the ovarian cycle and body temperature has been also reported for several species of marsupials, such as the Tasmanian bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) [9], common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) [10] and marine mammals such as the beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) [11]. Furthermore, in some mammals, such as sheep [12], cattle [8], bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates gilli) [13] and killer whales (Orcinus orca) [14], a decrease in body temperature has been observed from several hours to several days before parturition. Therefore, it may be possible to predict the time of parturition.…”

Monitoring the gestation period of rescued Formosan pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) with progesterone radioimmunoassay

“…There was no direct hormone evidence to confirm the pangolin's gestation period. Reproductive hormone assay technology is applied to many other endangered species µBowers et al, ; Hesterman et al, ; Katsumata et al, ; Putranto et al, ; Schwarzenberger et al, ]. In mammals, pregnancy is associated with Progesterone(P4) concentrations greater than those observed during nonpregnant diestrus µCapezzuto et al, ; Dionysius, ; Engeland et al, ; Karen et al, ].…”

The high cost of reproduction in sea otters necessitates unique physiological adaptations

“…Overall, sea otters appear unique in their reproductive physiology. Although many species exhibit a decline in T core at the end of gestation (Eliason and Fewell, 1997;Fewell, 1995;Katsumata, 2010;Katsumata et al, 2006;Williams et al, 2011), this generally occurs in the days preceding parturition. For sea otters, this decline occurs over a 3 month period (Esslinger et al, 2014) and may be associated with metabolic changes (Table 1).…”

“…Declines in T core in the days preceding parturition have been documented in both terrestrial (Eliason and Fewell, 1997;Fewell, 1995;Melanie et al, 1988;Williams et al, 2011) and marine (Katsumata, 2010;Katsumata et al, 2006) mammals. In contrast, data from temperature-logging time-depth recorders (TDRs) implanted in wild sea otters have revealed a characteristic decline in T core by 1.5°C over the last 3 months of gestation (Esslinger et al, 2014).…”