A.I. in Cabot's tragopan

Cabot's Tragopan semen collection and artificial insemination of the female Cabots tragopan at Francy Hermans Tragopan breeding facility in Belgium

Artificial insemination or A.I. is a special reproduction technic which is being used to overcome infertility in those species which produce lot's of infertile eggs. The techniic consist of a co-operative massage technic in the male and of a simple non-co-operative massage technic in the female. AI is a risky business and should only be done by those people who have enough practical experience. A.I. has proven its merits in captive breeding many non-domesticated gall- and grui-forms such as the Cabot's tragopan, copper pheasant, wattled, whooping, Siberian cranes, houbara bustard, and many others. Thanks to A.I., many more chicks from all those species are now available which would not have been available when depending only on natural mating methods. As such, A.I. is a prime reproduction technic for those species which suffer from infertility problems.  Cabot's tragopan has been reproduced by the hudred's by several people using AI methods in America, China and Europe. Without AI this tragopan would not be represented in America neither in Europe. The chicks being produced with AI are now able to reproduce through natural mating because many more variable genetic combinations have been created thanks to AI in a much shorter time span than would have been possible through natural mating.