Zoological institutions often conduct breeding soundness exams on animals prior to transporting them to another institution, or when females fail to become pregnant. Examining the male is usually the easiest place to start by confirming the presence of testes and spermic ejaculates and is usually combined with a pre-shipment health examination. While finding problems like undescended testes (cryptorchidism) is rare, identifying reproductive problems before an animal is shipped to another location saves an unnecessary transport for the animal, as well as time and money for the institutions.
