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MAURICE H. FRIEDMAN, CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF ESTROUS RABBITS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SEASONAL FACTORS, Endocrinology, Volume 22, Issue 3, 1 March 1938, Pages 354–359, https://doi.org/10.1210/endo-22-3-354
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Abstract
Most of the investigators who have had occasion to use estrous rabbits have selected animals which have been isolated for 30 days (or more), or which present a large, purple vagina upon examination. It is implied that all such rabbits are actually in estrus. However, no investigator who has used such criteria has ever presented any data to establish their reliability. On the contrary, there is evidence by Hammond and Marshall (1) that estrus does not occur with regularity in isolated animals, and that the vaginal color is no guide as to the presence of heat. Over a period of several years the experience of this laboratory has fully confirmed Hammond and Marshall in every particular, despite the fact that the two colonies of animals are maintained under very different conditions. Nevertheless, there appeared to be little justification for the publication of our data until the use of these unsatisfactory criteria became so general. This report is now presented to emphasize the errors in the current practice, to indicate how estrous rabbits may be selected with much greater consistency, and to call attention to the importance of seasonal influences on the mating behavior of the laboratory rabbit.
