Spanish Goat Ultrasound

Hysterical pregnancy in a goat?

Zookeepers thought that one of our goats was pregnant, and she even started producing milk.  Goats usually have a gestation, or pregnancy, of five months.  When our female was a month overdue, we decided to call in our large animal veterinarian to examine her.

Our vet used an ultrasound machine to determine whether the goat was pregnant.  She used ultrasound jelly on the probe, just like doctors use on people.

It takes a lot of skill to read an ultrasound.  (It looks like wavy lines to me.)  

There was no sign of a baby goat.

After a thorough exam and some medication for bloating, our female goat is totally back to normal.

Did you know...

It is common for otters to have a hysterical pregnancy.  It is called a pseudopregnancy, and they even produce the hormones associated with a real pregnancy.

Scooping Poop for Science

Last year we collected samples from three female otters to test for pregnancy.

 The samples were sent to CREW at the Cincinnati Zoo (Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife), and they determined that one of our females was pregnant.  On March 2, 2011, the female gave birth to triplets!

Zookeepers kept her away from the adult males so that she could raise her youngsters.  She will not being having babies this year, but our youngest female was in a group with a male otter.  Zookeepers collected samples every day from October to January of this year.  A few weeks ago, we learned that our female is not pregnant.  It would be nice to have otter pups again, but it is also nice to have a little break!  We now have 7 North American river otters at the Lowcountry Zoo - more than most American Zoos.

Our otter triplets continue to do very well, and they are almost as big as their mother.  I believe that she is at the bottom of that tackle pile.

In March, we will be celebrating the otters' first birthday!  Keep an eye out for the date of the celebration.  We will post it on the blog, on Brookgreen's website, Brookgreen's Facebook page, and maybe even in the newspaper.  It will be a fun day!!