Table 1. Semen characteristics collected by electroejaculation and the effect of urine contamination on the sperm quality in a Siberian tiger.

Items	Mean semen characteristics* (n=17)	Semen characteristics without or with urine contamination collected in a same trial (n=4)
		–	+
Volume (ml)	5.8 ± 2.7 (2.3–11.5)	3.7 ± 1.3 (2.7–5.7)	5.1 ± 2.2 (3.0–8.1)
pH	7.5 ± 0.2 (7.2–7.8)	7.5 ± 0.1a (7.4–7.6)	6.4 ± 0.2b (6.2–6.5)
No. of sperm (×106 cells /ejaculate)	294.3 ± 250.2 (13.8–1027.7)	241.5 ± 200.9 (34.0–473.1)	85.3 ± 49.8 (25.8–145.0)
No. of motile sperm (×106 cells /ejaculate)	255.6 ± 252.3 (9.7–919.8)	207.1 ± 169.0 (30.6–400.7)	33.4 ± 27.9 (5.2–63.3)
% of motile sperm	82.4 ± 11.4 (50.0–95.0)	87.3 ± 2.6a (84.7–90.0)	41.1 ± 30.5b (10.0–70.0)
% of live sperm**	86.3 ± 11.3 (54.0–98.5)	89.7 ± 6.5 (84.5–97.0)	60.5 (54.5–66.5)
% of morphologically normal sperm	91.2 ± 3.5 (86.0–96.5)	NE	NE

Values are means ± SD (ranges). ^a,b Values with different superscript differ significantly (P<0.05). * Values are calculated from semen excluded the ejaculates with urine contamination. ** Samples without and with urine contamination (3 and 2, respectively) are examined. NE: not examined.