Celioscopy as a method of healthy diagnosis of reproductive tract in raptors.

Endoscopy is the clinical method widely used in sex diagnosis in avian specie. This procedure can be also proposed in order to evaluate functional status of gonads or, according to many authors, to identify reproductive disorders during sub-clinical phase. In this study, during the breeding season, 20 wild raptors of unknown sex were evaluated by celioscopy, then all the subjects had to be euthanatized because they were seriously polytraumatized. Reproductive tracts were removed and stored in 10% buffered formalin. Histological samples, were finally colored with ematossilina. The aim of the study was to verify if the magnification of instruments to ensure a diagnostic allow, especially in genital subclinical diseases. Endoscopy results were confirmed in 19 cases (95%) and only in a bird histopathology showed a mild leukocyte infiltration of ovarian stromal tissue, probably not compatible with a reproductive ability. This work represents an initial phase of a larger study of assisted reproduction in Italian wild raptors.