Tests before breeding

[kate person]

So before you breed dogs you have to do tests like hip and elbow dysplasia testing, eye testing, heart tests etc and I was wondering do zoo animals get tests done before they are bred? Like are there any diseases some zoos are trying to breed out of certain animals? What tests do they do? I’m guessing all animals get health tested and probably DNA tested before hand and also what kind of tests they do depends on what kind of animal it is. Do zoos do tests like hip, eye, heart etc?

sorry if this thread already exists.

 

[Fallax]

A lot of species have breeding programmes in which certain individuals will be matched with others or not allowed to breed based on many factors including genetic relations and conditions etc.

 

[TinoPup]

So before you breed dogs you have to do tests like hip and elbow dysplasia testing, eye testing, heart tests etc and I was wondering do zoo animals get tests done before they are bred? Like are there any diseases some zoos are trying to breed out of certain animals? What tests do they do? I’m guessing all animals get health tested and probably DNA tested before hand and also what kind of tests they do depends on what kind of animal it is. Do zoos do tests like hip, eye, heart etc?

sorry if this thread already exists.

It's mostly a dog thing. Even with other domestic animals and farm animals, that sort of thing isn't common, beyond basic care and pedigree research

 

[Jurek7]

Testing is done for infectious diseases, like tuberculosis. Genetic testing of wild animals is done to discover paternity, sex (in these birds which sexes are visually identical) and eventually species / subspecies.

It is not done to test for a genetic disease for two reasons. First, genetic diseases of wild animals are usually unknown. Second, zoos try preserving genetic diversity as it is, not improve the species.