At the Zoo in Poznan, Poland, there lives a celebrity couple: caimans, with the male named Hector and the female named Luiza.
They are celebrity couples because caimans do not remain monogamous in nature, but Hector and Louisa have lived together since they stayed at the Zoo in Poznan, Poland, in 1973, for 48 years, longer than many human marriages.
During these 48 years, Hector and Louisa will work hard to "make small crocodiles" every estrus season. During caiman's estrus period, the male will first court, and the courtship action includes jumping out of the water, showing off the tail, etc., and if the female accepts it, then it will begin to mate formally.
In general, caimans lay 14-40 eggs after each mating, an average of 29. Since caimans are cold-blooded animals, they cannot hatch their pups, so before laying eggs, they will choose a suitable place, use their own strength to open a small nest, and then lay the eggs inside. In the warm sunlight, crocodile eggs hatch easily. But Hector and Louisa have worked hard for 48 years and have not given birth to a single baby.
According to the staff, Hector and Louisa mate very hard during the annual estrus period, and even tourists can watch their mating behavior and cheer them on. But each time Louisa's eggs could not be hatched, the staff tried everything to do, but until the crocodile eggs stinked, they did not see a small crocodile born.
The staff has also done physical examinations for them, but the results of the physical examination show that they are very healthy, which makes the staff even more confused, after all, the health is working hard to mate, why is it difficult for the two to have offspring?
Seeing that the two caimans were about to miss the best age for childbearing, the zoo staff in which they were staying finally decided to find out the cause of infertility. In response, the zoo invited German scientists to conduct a physical examination of two caimans.
Caimans, unlike mammals, do not observe their reproductive organs outside, as mammals do, but hide in the lower abdominal cloaca.
(In the round cloaca, its mating organs are hidden)
In order to understand the infertility of the caiman couple, scientists need to put their hands into their cloacas to check whether there are deformities in the reproductive organs and reproductive system. However, what the staff did not expect was that the cause of the infertility of the caiman couple was actually the male Hector, whose reproductive organs were too small.
For reptiles, the size of the male's reproductive organs is very important, and if too small it will make it difficult to inject sperm into the other person's body, making it difficult for the female to fertilize.
Crocodiles, like birds, lay eggs during the breeding season, even without the participation of males, but the eggs they lay are unfertilized, and because of this, Louisa has not left a single offspring.
After the results of the examination came out, a media outlet truthfully reported the cause of the Hectors' infertility, which was good, and people all over the world knew that their reproductive organs were too small.
However, the results of the examination did not affect the love of the Hectors, and they would work hard to create small crocodiles during the estrus period, only this time, both the staff and tourists had a strange smile in their eyes.
Since the Hectors cannot conceive naturally, why don't the staff help them with artificial conception? There are 3 main reasons for this.
Too old: Although the Hectors are still trying to mate, their age can no longer withstand the toss.
Artificial conception is more expensive: Although artificial conception technology is more mature, the cost of this technology is not low, and the cost is somewhat unaffordable for zoos.
Caimans are not in danger of extinction: Although the Caiman Hectors are stars in the zoo, they are not in danger of extinction in nature, so even if they leave no offspring, it does not affect the survival of the species.
The only troublesome thing is that when the Caimans Hector and his wife die for some reason, the zoo needs to spend a sum of money to buy caimans.
Finally, although the Caiman Hectors have difficulty leaving offspring, it is a miracle that they have been together for so long, which is why they have attracted a lot of attention.