Table 1. Characteristics of Asian elephant ejaculates and comparison of semen traits between good and poor motility ejaculates.
| All Ejaculates | Good Motility | Poor Motility | |||||||
| (92 ejaculates; 11 bulls) | (28 ejaculates; 5 bulls) | (52 ejaculates; 10 bulls) | |||||||
| Semen Trait | Mean | ± SD | (Range) | Mean | ± SD | (Range) | Mean | ± SD | (Range) |
| Total volume (ml) | 98.5 | ±79.6 | (3–346) | 135.1 | ±89.6 a | (20–346) | 88.8 | ±73.1 b | (7.5–310) |
| Sperm concentration (×106 cells/ml) | 1008.2 | ±800.8 | (9–2665) | 473.0 | ±511.2 a | (10–2000) | 1313.8 | ±764.7 b | (2–2665) |
| % Total motility (% tMOT) | 31.3 | ±36.3 | (0–95) | 81.3 | ±9.1 a | (65–95) | 1.9 | ±3.6 b | (0–10) |
| % Progressive motility (% pMOT) | 28.0 | ±35.3 | (0–95) | 75.2 | ±18.8 a | (10–95) | 1.2 | ±3.1 b | (0–10) |
| Normal sperm (%) | 59.5 | ±28.6 | (0–95) | 80.3 | ±13.0 a | (47–95) | 44.9 | ±30.8 b | (2–88) |
| Spermac positive (%) | 24.0 | ±26.1 | (0–87) | 51.9 | ±14.5 a | (31–70) | 7.5 | ±14.4 b | (0–79) |
| Osmolality (mOsm) | 271.7 | ±62.2 | (112–537) | 265.4 | ±12.1 | (242–291) | 282.8 | ±103.5 | (112–537) |
| pH | 6.8 | ±0.8 | (4.9–8.3) | 7.07 | ±0.5 a | (6.00–8.29) | 6.50 | ±0.9 b | (4.89–7.81) |
Good Motility ejaculates: ≥65% tMOT; Poor Motility ejaculates: ≤10% tMOT.
a,b
Within a row, means with different superscripts between good versus poor motility ejaculates differ (P<0.05).
Ejaculates with overt visual or olfactory signs of urine contamination were not included.