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VIABILITY OF BAT SPERMATOZOA AFTER PROLONGED STORAGE IN THE EPIDIDYMIS

The viability of spermatozoa after prolonged storage in the female reproductive tract has been established in several species of hibernating bats (Wimsatt, 1944; Hiraiwa & Uchida, 1956; Racey & Kleiman, 1970). Spermatozoa are, however, also stored in the cauda epididymidis of male bats during winter (Courrier, 1927). Although mating is initiated soon after the completion of spermatogenesis in late summer, its occurrence has frequently been reported during winter (Wimsatt, 1945) and spring (Moffat, 1922), and Strelkov (1962) showed that an increasing proportion of four vespertilionid species were inseminated as hibernation progressed.

Investigation of the viability of spermatozoa stored in the cauda epididymidis of hibernating bats has only recently become possible now that one species, the noctule (Nyctalus noctula), is maintained and bred in the laboratory