A comparative study of the correlation of weights of the body, testis, and epididymis in the goat, ram, bat and rat.

This study was undertaken to correlate the weights of the body (Bw), testis (Tw), epididymis (Ew), cauda epididymidis (CEw), length (TL), diameter (TD), and area (TLD) of testis in adult Wistar rats, Eidolon helvum (mogachiropteran bat), red Sokoto goats, and white Yankassa rams. The results showed that it was only in the Wistar rats that TL, TD and TLD correlated significantly with TW (p < 0.01). Bw showed no significant correlation with Tw in the mammals. Tw correlated very significantly (p < 0.01) with Ew, and CEw in the rat, goat, and ram but not in the bat. These findings suggest that testicular weight, a measure of daily sperm production, relates with testis length, diameter and area, measures of testicular size, only in Wistar rat but not in the red Sokoto goat, white Yankassa ram, or Eidolon helvum; and that body weight has no relevance in the assessment of the reproductive performance of the males of these mammalian species. It further suggests that in the bat, a flying mammal, testicular weight does not relate to indices of sperm transport (epididymal weight) and storage (cauda epididymal weight) unlike in the terrestrial mammals studied.