The camelid family comprises the Old World camelids (or dromedary and Bactrian
camels) and the New World camelids (namely the llamas, alpacas, guanacos and
vicunas). Although the species within each group can hybridize among
themselves to produce fertile offspring, it is only recently that a hybrid
between New and Old World camelids has been reported. To create this hybrid,
semen was collected from male camels by artificial vagina (AV) and inseminated
into female guanacos (n= 9) and llamas
(n= 3) at the appropriate stage of their
follicular wave cycle. Similarly, guanaco and llama semen was collected, also
by AV, and inseminated into female camels (n=
42). Although several conceptions occurred, only one hybrid (camel
sire×guanaco dam) continued to term and was born alive after 328 days of
gestation, and another is pregnant at the time of writing (camel
sire×llama dam). Further studies are presently being carried out using
extraspecific embryo transfer to try and improve the success rate of live
offspring being born. Female guanacos (n= 4) are
treated with hormones to stimulate their ovaries to produce several follicles
before being inseminated with camel semen. Of the 12 camel recipients that
have to date received hybrid embryos (camel sire×guanaco dam), 10
conceived, but 9 of these subsequently aborted between 30 and 365 days and
only one recipient was still pregnant at the time of writing.
The ovarian follicular wave pattern in the mated and non-mated dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)
