A study of oestrus and fecundity in a laboratory colony of Mouse opossums (Marmosa robinsoni)

Twenty wild caught Mouse opossums Marmosa robinsoni Bangs 1898 formed the basis of a laboratory colony which was maintained at the Brookfield Zoo during 1971–3. Approximately 250 young including 3rd-generation descendants were produced.
M. robinsoni is polyoestrous with a mean cycle length of 25.5±0.5 days. Vaginal oestrus, which normally lasts three days, is accompanied by a pronounced cycle of cornification and mucification. During this period large numbers of desquamated epithelial cells and mucus are found in the urine. Females are sexually receptive 24 hours before cornified cells first appear in the urine and receptivity lasts two to four days. Fertile copulation takes place throughout this period. Ovulation is spontaneous and occurs late in oestrus. The mean number of corpora lutea recorded was 19.8±0.9 ( n =23).
Anovular cycles, associated with atresia of mature Graafian follicles, were found in approximately 25% of the females. The sterile cycles, which had a mean length of 15.6±0.7 days, were not always accompanied by a behavioural oestrus. Observations on the behaviour of introduced pairs provided direct evidence of sexual incompatibility. Sexual incompatibility was found to have been responsible for at least 10% of the unsuccessful pairings recorded during the study.
There were no indications in the Brookfield colony of the decline in productivity among laboratory-bred animals reported in other Marmosa colonies. Litter-sizes and litter-rates in the F₁ and F₂ generations did not differ from those in the wild-caught generation. However, the fact that only one out of three pairings produced young suggests that productivity in the colony was lower than in the wild. The cause of this low productivity was not established.