Quintuplets
Keywords: quintuplets, bovine, multipleAn eight year old Angus X cow became recumbent at about 7 months of gestation. Because of a suspicion of hypocalcemic paresis, the owner administered calcium (dose and route unknown) and finally 100 mg of dexamethasone in an effort to induce parturition. On finding the cow in a state of terminal collapse, the veterinarian immediately performed euthanasia and a salvage cesarean section. In the veterinarian’s words, “There was a geyser of uterine fluid…. and calves kept tumbling out”.
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Image owner and holder of copyright: Dr Alecia DuCharme. Vermillion, Alberta. aleciaducharme@gmail.com
Individual placentas became detached and were torn during an effort to extract the calves. Therefore no details on the structure of placentation (number of chorions, amnions and shared fetal membranes) were available.
All the fetuses were dead but overtly, morphologically normal. They were all heifers and all weighed approximately 20kg. Because of the calve’s resemblance to one another, observers were inclined to suggest that they were identical (monozygous).
Notes on monozygosity:
Monozygosity has been suggested on the basis of hair whorl location, color distribution and blood typing. However, DNA analysis (such as microsatellite detection) remains as the gold standard for the diagnosis of monozygosity in cattle, horses and other domestic animals. DNA testing was not financially justifiable in this case.
Monozygous embryos have been accurately diagnosed using ultrasonography in cattle (and other animals) after transferring single embryos. This has been based on the presence of two or more completely separate embryonic-placental units. It has also been based on the presence of two or more amnions and allantoic sacs within a single chorion. However, the presence of separate amnions and allantoic sacs within a single chorion at the time of calving need not necessarily indicate that the calves are identical. This is because fusion of adjoining chorions is common, especially in ruminants. Indeed, freemartin calves (one male and the other female) have separate amnions and often share a single fused chorion. After extensive searching, the author was unable to find data on variations of placentation in bovine multiple births. Therefore it is doubtful if the examination of fetal membranes in this case would have aided in the recognition of mono-or heterozygous fetuses.
Importantly, this cow had not received any superovulation treatment. Unfortunately, a history of previous multiple calvings was not available either. Therefore her genetic tendency for multiple ovulations was not known. However should these fetuses have in fact been identical, the possibility remains that five fetuses could of have originated from a single ovulation.
| Interesting reports on multiple births in non-stimulated cattle: In 1920, Jones, S.V.H. and Rouse J. E. surveyed multiple births in beef cattle and suggested that multiple births were more likely to occur in some breeds (notably Brown Swiss cattle) than the other. Quadruplets were extremely rare; about 1 in every half million. In the Spokane Daily Chronicle, Nov 1951: Dr Glen Robens of Poland New York State commented on the birth of sextuplets born in nearby Middleville NY. All were born dead. In April 1964, an unsubstantiated report appeared in the The Toledo Blade of a septuplet birth in Moscow, USSR. The number of live-born was not reported. In November 2009, a French farmer reported on the birth of quintuplets from a non-stimulated cow. All were healthy males. Images of the calves show the differing hair whorls on their back suggesting to this author that they were not identical. Interestingly, reports of multiple births in sheep appear more common that those in cattle with numerous sets of quadruplets and quintuplets reported in various media. The author recalls a report of the birth of live septuplets from a Dorper ewe in South Africa. Recently, the birth of octuplet lambs was reported from a Polypay ewe in Minnesota. Both of these cases occurred in non-stimulated ewes. |
In view of the limited data available on the subject, this author suggests that published frequencies of natural multiple births should probably be regarded as estimates at best and only peculiar to the breed, management system and geographic area in which they occur.
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Identical triplets in a Thoroughbred mare
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