Non-invasive assessment of oestrous cycles and evaluation of reproductive seasonality in the female wild black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis minor)

Female wild black rhinoceroses in Zimbabwe were monitored non-invasively using faecal progesterone metabolite analysis and observation of reproductive behaviour. A postpartum period of reproductive inactivity of at least 4 months, followed by a period of 4-7 months of oestrous cyclicity, was detected in six multiparous females. Three-quarters of the oestrous cycles (n = 21) had a total duration (mean +/- SEM) of 26.8 +/- 1 days. Other types of cycle were characterized either by an extended luteal phase, lasting on average twice as long as the normal cycle, or by an extended follicular phase. These extended cycles may have resulted from early embryo loss and heat stress. Female rhinoceroses did not conceive before 8 months after giving birth and some females (n = 2) most likely aborted after 3.0-3.5 months of gestation. The detected period of cyclic oestrus occurred between May and March in females (n = 9), and there was a 3 month extended interoestrous interval in nulliparous females during the period of decreasing daylengths that can be presumed to be the period of poorest fertility for the black rhinoceros under tropical latitudes. In contrast, the period of optimum fertility in the Southern hemisphere coincided with the late spring and early summer, and corresponded to the early rainy season. As a result, a higher incidence of births was detected in the late rainy season, providing the lactating female with the most suitable environment in terms of nutritional requirements.

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