7) Uteroplacental circulation
I know of no studies in this deer species.
8) Extraplacental membranes
The allantoic sac was filled with milky, yellow fluid and had a very thin epithelium. There were no hippomanes. The amnion had many tiny foci of squamous metaplasia. They are composed of cells that were described in detail for the white-tailed deer by Sinha et al. (1970).
9) Trophoblast external to barrier
There is no trophoblastic infiltration of uterus or caruncle.
10) Endometrium
The bicornuate uterine horn has three mesometrially located caruncles in each horn, most similar to that described in detail by Sinha et al. (1969) for white-tailed deer.
11) Various features
No special features were identified.
12) Endocrinology
I have had the opportunity of examining also the fetal testes of sambar deer. Their interstitial cell compartment appears to be completely unstimulated, from which I infer that no fetal gonadotropins are active. The presence of binucleate trophoblastic cells on the villi suggests relaxin or lactogen production during pregnancy (Wooding et al., 1997). Although no specific studies on Rusa are included, Plotka (1999) summarized most of what is known of the endocrine function in cervidae.
13) Genetics
Cooper & Herbert (2001) examined the survival of animals derived from the small introduced population of sambar that now inhabit Australia and New Zealand. Remarkably, a thriving colony of sambar deer was founded by only two animals.
Gray (1972) does not list any hybridization with other species. Putative hybrids with Cervus timorensis (a closely related species) have not been definitely characterized (Dratch & Pemberton, 1991). These authors studied electrophoretic characters of deer species but stated that no Sambar deer had been studied by then.
Their chromosome picture is confusing. Chandra et al. (1967) found an Indian sambar deer from Mysore, India, to have 58 chromosomes. Animals from the Philippines karyotyped by us had 64 or 65 chromosomes. The NF, however, has always been 70, as is the case in most deer species (Hsu & Benirschke, 1973). There is much unresolved confusion of Cervus unicolor and Rusa species that is also evident from the review by Groves and Grubb (1987). Among other remarks, they cited Wang & Du (1982) as having identified the Chinese Cervus (Rusa) unicolor dejeani (cambojensis) as having 2n=62 chromosomes, with NF 70. Halnan (1989) listed the following for Cervus unicolor: 2n= 58, 64/65, 62. Our experience with Cervus unicolor malaccensis is 2n=56; for C. unicolor niger it was 2n=58. A male "Sambar deer" described by Neitzel (1979) from the Berlin Zoo had 2n=60. It is thus apparent that extensive Robertsonian rearrangements have occurred in this subgenus that needs more extensive study of animals with known, precise origin of location. The NF (nombre fondamental - chromosome arms), however, is always 70.
Miyamoto et al. (1990) studied some mtDNA sequences of cervinae and found close relation of muntjacs and sambars.
14) Immunology
I know of no studies in this deer species.
15) Pathological features
With advanced age, sambar deer have developed arthritis that necessitated euthanasia (Griner, 1983). According to the review by Heuschele et al. (1984), Rusa (Cervus timorensis) have been reported to suffer from malignant catarrhal fever.
16) Physiologic data
I know of no studies in this deer species.
17) Other resources
Numerous cell strains of various sambar deer are available from CRES at the San Diego Zoo by contacting Dr. Oliver Ryder at oryder@ucsd.edu.
18) Other remarks - What additional Information is needed?
More endocrine and chromosomal data are needed, especially of what are now considered to be "subspecies". It appears from the various chromosomal studies that some of the "subspecies" have widely divergent chromosome numbers and thus may deserve species ranking. In addition, early gestational stages and descriptions of term delivered placentas would be of interest.
Acknowledgement
The animal photographs in this chapter come from the Zoological Society of San Diego. I appreciate also very much the help of the pathologists at the San Diego Zoo.
References
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