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Effect of the Number of Mating Partners and Sperm Quality on Reproductive Success in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus)

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Abstract

Data on the reproductive success and reproductive behavior of the domestic cat, the most widespread representative of the family Felidae, are presented. The effects of the number of partners, mating order, and sperm quality on male and female reproductive success were assessed. The experiments showed that the fertility of female cats that mated with two partners was higher. Here, male reproductive success was less dependent on the attitude of females to the males, whereas the sperm quality (percentage of morphologically intact spermatozoa) and order of mating with the female had considerable effects on reproductive success. However, male sperm quality did not have a significant effect on the number of offspring if the mating pattern was monogamous.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to Ekaterina Pavlova, Dmitrii Glukhov, and Alla Glukhova for help with animal care and material collection.

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 15-04-07845 A). Funding for animal maintenance was provided by the State Task “Collection of Live Animals of Wild Predatory and Ungulate Species at the Chernogolovka Research Facility, IEEP RAS” (project no. 0109-2016-0002).

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  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    M. N. Erofeeva, G. S. Alekseeva, P. A. Sorokin & S. V. Naidenko

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  1. M. N. Erofeeva
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  2. G. S. Alekseeva
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  3. P. A. Sorokin
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  4. S. V. Naidenko
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Erofeeva, M.N., Alekseeva, G.S., Sorokin, P.A. et al. Effect of the Number of Mating Partners and Sperm Quality on Reproductive Success in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus). Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 45, 756–765 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018070063

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