|
| |
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online July 25, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 2855-2864 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01714
A year in the thermal life of a free-ranging herd of springbok Antidorcas marsupialis
1 School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, 7
York Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa
2 Physiology, School of Biomedical and Chemical Science, University of
Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, 6009, Australia
3 National Zoological Gardens Lichtenburg Game Breeding Centre, PO Box 716,
Lichtenburg 2740, South Africa
4 Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
82071, USA
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: fullera{at}physiology.wits.ac.za)
Accepted 27 May 2005
We used miniature data loggers implanted in the abdominal cavity to measure
core body temperatures at 30 min intervals in eight (three males, five
females) adult free-ranging springbok Antidorcas marsupialis in their
natural habitat, over a period of 11–13 months. The animals were
subjected to a nychthemeral range of air temperature that often exceeded
20°C, with an absolute minimum temperature of –6°C and a maximum
of 34°C. Abdominal temperature exhibited a low amplitude (
1.2°C)
nychthemeral rhythm, with a temperature peak near sunset and a trough shortly
after sunrise. The amplitude of the nychthemeral rhythm of body temperature
was not correlated with the 24 h range of air temperature. Although mean 24 h
body temperatures were positively correlated with corresponding air
temperatures, mean daily body temperature increased, on average, by only
0.02°C per 1°C increase in air temperature, so that it was only
0.3°C higher in summer than in winter. Mean monthly body temperatures
were strongly positively correlated with photoperiod and, in parallel with
changes in the time of sunrise, the times at which the minimum and maximum
body temperatures occurred were shifted 1.2 h earlier in summer than in
winter. Annual and daily variations in body temperature of springbok, like
those of other free-living African ungulates, therefore appear to reflect an
endogenous rhythm, entrained by the light:dark cycle, but largely independent
of fluctuations in the environmental thermal load. Springbok exhibit
remarkable homeothermy and do not employ adaptive heterothermy to survive in
their natural environment.
Key words: springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis, circadian rhythm, body temperature, homeothermy, thermoregulation
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
Related articles in JEB:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  L. C. R. Meyer, L. Fick, A. Matthee, D. Mitchell, and A. Fuller HYPERTHERMIA IN CAPTURED IMPALA (AEPYCEROS MELAMPUS): A FRIGHT NOT FLIGHT RESPONSE J. Wildl. Dis., April 1, 2008; 44(2): 404 - 416. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. S. Hetem, D. Mitchell, S. K. Maloney, L. C. R. Meyer, L. G. Fick, G. I. H. Kerley, and A. Fuller Fever and sickness behavior during an opportunistic infection in a free-living antelope, the greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2008; 294(1): R246 - R254. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Lust, A. Fuller, S. K. Maloney, D. Mitchell, and G. Mitchell Thermoregulation in pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana Ord) in the summer J. Exp. Biol., July 15, 2007; 210(14): 2444 - 2452. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Ostrowski and J. B. Williams Heterothermy of free-living Arabian sand gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica) in a desert environment J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2006; 209(8): 1421 - 1429. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Y. van Bergen SPRINGBOK KEEP THEIR COOL J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2005; 208(15): i - i. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
