Observation of Reproductive Capacity and Growth on 44th Generation Z:ZCLA Mongolian Gerbil / 医学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe Mongolian gerbil's reproducing performance and growth indexes of biology for guidance of development and use of laboratory anima1. Methods 200 gerbils produced by seed-parents with good reproductive capacity and body constitution were selected (females and males were 100 each).When 2.5~3.0 months old,one male and one female were cohabited randomly for a long period of time.Results Every embryo gave birth to 14 young gerbils at best and 1 gerbil at least.The total embryos was 455 and the total young gerbils was 3191. The average young gerbils of every embryo were 7.01,and every embryo gave mostly birth to 5~9 young gerbils,accounting for 79.34 percent of all the embryos. The shortest time between two embryos was 20 days and the longest time was 127 days,and mostly were 20~60 days,accounting for 72.16 percent of total. Conclusion The body weight,body length and tail length of Mongolian gerbils grow rapidly from birth to 4 months old. The differences between female and male was not significantly before delectation,and the in the growing time after delectation,the body weight,body length and tail length of male gerbils were all greater than those of female gerbils.