Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries of a female animal. In the case of non-human animals, this is also called spaying. It is a form of sterilization.

The removal of the ovaries together with the Fallopian tubes is called salpingo-oophorectomy. Oophorectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy are not common forms of birth control in humans; more usual is tubal ligation, in which the Fallopian tubes are blocked but the ovaries remain intact.

In humans, oophorectomy is most usually performed together with a hysterectomy - the removal of the uterus. Its use in a hysterectomy when there are no other health problems is somewhat controversial.

In animals, spaying involves an invasive removal of the ovaries, but rarely has major complications; the superstition that it causes weight gain is not based on fact. Spaying is especially important for certain animals that require the ovum to be released at a certain interval (called estrus or "heat"), such as cats and dogs. If the cell is not released during these animal's heat, it can cause severe medical problems that can be averted by spaying or partnering the animal with a male.

Oophorectomy is sometimes referred to as castration, but that term is most often used to mean the removal of a male animal's testicles.

See also

• tubal ligation & birth control
• circumcision
• genital mutilation & female circumcision

Wikitravel is a project to create an open content, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide. Although it uses a Wiki model to create the guide and deliver it on the World Wide Web, the project is also aimed towards production of print-quality guides. Wikitravel is built in collaboration by Wikitravellers from around the globe.

Wikitravel was started in July of 2003, inspired in part by Wikipedia. The project uses MediaWiki, which is also used by the Wikipedia. Unlike Wikipedia, Wikitravel uses the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/ rather than the GNU Free Documentation License to keep the guide free. Among other things, this makes it easier to make free reprints of individual pages.

Wikitravel is a multilingual project and available in five languages:

• English
• Romanian
• French
• German
• Swedish

See also

• World66

External links

• Wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Main_Page