Research results which investigated why sheep get excited winter and breeding season

ByJames Bowe

Animals are known to have long hair that covers the body in winter, but why the sheep are breeding in winter has been regarded as a mystery among scientists. The research team of Nottingham University and colleagues reports the results of research that studies the ecology of such sheep and has found a mechanism that excites when sheep comes in winter.

Scientists find missing link that makes sheep horny in winter - The University of Nottingham
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2017/march/scientists-find-missing-link-that-makes-sheep-horny-in-winter.aspx


Why do sheep get horny in winter? Because the light is baaad, says study | World news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/06/why-do-sheep-get-horny-in-winter-because-the-light-is-baaad-says-study

Changes in the breeding ability of animals include hormones secreted from the pineal gland of the brain at nightMelatoninIt was known for a long time that it is related. Melatonin has variousSex hormoneIt acts on the pituitary gland which affects the level. The sheep is typically in the breeding season in the winter when melatonin is secreted in the long term, but since the region of the pituitary gland that accepts melatonin is a different place from the region that secretes sex hormones, why melatonin I do not know if she will affect the reproductive ability of sheep.

According to the research team, the missing link of this mechanism,Vascular endothelial cell growth factorIt is said that it is found in the protein made in the region of the pituitary gland which accepts melatonin. Proteins with two different actions, "type inhibiting blood vessel growth" and "stimulating growth of blood vessels" are made in this area, controlling which type of protein melatonin produces It is said that.

As a result of the investigation, the protein of "type inhibiting vascular growth" has the effect of decreasing the connection between various regions of the pituitary gland, which is triggered by the increase in melatonin during the winter It was found to be produced. In addition, this type of protein also has the effect of stimulating the secretion of sex hormones, and the influence that the sheep is easy to turn eyes to the heterosexual sheep was also confirmed. In contrast, it is known that the "type stimulating blood vessel growth" protein is produced in the summer season when typically the period of melatonin secretion is shortened, and it exerts its effect as an agent for suppressing sexual desire.

The research team says, "It may be applicable to farmers to control the breeding season, such as increasing the survival rate of lambs by allowing lambs to be born after a hard winter." However, this is a story limited to sheep, and why the breeding season of a horse occurs in summer when the amount of secretion of melatonin decreases is that it remains a mystery.

ByEsther Hoogkamer