Studies on hybridization between a Barbary ram (Ammotragus lervia) and domestic ewes (Ovis aries) and nanny goats (Capra hircus)

: Six nanny goats and 9 ewes were inseminated with Barbary semen and 4-5 days after insemination 16 hybrid embryos were recovered: 14 were transferred to ewes or nanny goats. Survival of embryos was monitored by return to service after transfer, peripheral plasma progesterone values and by examination at laparotomy. None of the Barbary ram x ewe embryos transferred to 4 ewes and 4 nanny goats or the Barbary ram x nanny goat embryos transferred to ewes survived. Of the 4 nanny goat recipients of Barbary rm x nanny goat embryos one had a resorbed fetus at 7 weeks after transfer, one was pregnant at 7 weeks but failed to produce a young and a third produced a healthy male 155 days after the transfer oestrus. The karyotype of the hybrid was 2n = 59XY, characterized by a single metacentric chromosome.