I got an email today talking about the new findings from the Alpaca Research Foundation (ARF) and the study going they did on ovulation in female alpacas. We have all been told the story that ovulation occurs because of the sound (orgling) the male makes during the mating process. I really found this hard to believe myself after one of our males made little to no noise and was still able to get the female pregnant. I had heard about this study starting shortly after that incident so, the results are of no real surprise to me. Basically stating that there is something in the male seminal fluid that causes the female to ovulate. This make sense to me, despite there being only one other animal that was known to do this, which is a relative, the bactrian camel.
Now what does will this mean for the breeding programs going forward? Will the Alpaca registry begin to allow breedings where the male is not physically present at the time of breeding? Will this lessen the value of some males and increase the value of others as they can breed more often, assuming the registry opens up to the idea, of course?
There could be ramifications for this down the road to be sure and I know I am not thinking about all of them right now, but thought I would throw this out there.
I would like to include a link to the article, but the website doesn’t let me get the actual link. But check the ARF website http://www.alpacaresearchfoundation.org/ and go to Research and Completed Projects.
Since this project was completed over a year ago, and is being blasted out to the Registry members now, I am thinking they are thinking about opening the registry up…just my thought though.