Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/11939
Title: Cool running: locomotor performance at low body temperature in mammals
Contributor(s): Rojas, Ana Daniella (author); Koertner, Gerhard  (author)orcid ; Geiser, Fritz  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2012
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0269Open Access Link
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/11939
Abstract: Mammalian torpor saves enormous amounts of energy, but a widely assumed cost of torpor is immobility and therefore vulnerability to predators. Contrary to this assumption, some small marsupial mammals in the wild move while torpid at low body temperatures to basking sites, thereby minimizing energy expenditure during arousal. Hence, we quantified how mammalian locomotor performance is affected by body temperature. The three small marsupial species tested, known to use torpor and basking in the wild, could move while torpid at body temperatures as low as 14.8-17.9°C. Speed was a sigmoid function of body temperature, but body temperature effects on running speed were greater than those in an ectothermic lizard used for comparison. We provide the first quantitative data of movement at low body temperature in mammals, which have survival implications for wild heterothermic mammals, as directional movement at low body temperature permits both basking and predator avoidance.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Biology Letters, 8(5), p. 868-870
Publisher: The Royal Society Publishing
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1744-957X
1744-9561
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060604 Comparative Physiology
060806 Animal Physiological Ecology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310912 Comparative physiology
310907 Animal physiological ecology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

Files in This Item:
2 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

44
checked on May 18, 2024

Page view(s)

1,392
checked on May 19, 2024
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.