Introduction to Pregnancy in Waiting: Embryonic Diapause in Mammals: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Embryonic Diapause

The capacity of the mammalian embryo to arrest development during early gestation is a topic that has fascinated biologists for over 150 years. The first known observation of this phenomenon was in a ruminant, the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in 1854, later confirmed in a number of studies in the last century [1]. The phenomenon, now known as embryonic diapause, was then found to be present in a wide range of species and across multiple taxa. Since that time, its biological mystery has attracted studies by scientists from around the globe.