Torpor and basking in a small arid zone marsupial |
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Authors: | Lisa Warnecke James M Turner Fritz Geiser |
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Institution: | (1) Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia |
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Abstract: | The high energetic cost associated with endothermic rewarming from torpor is widely seen as a major disadvantage of torpor.
We tested the hypothesis that small arid zone marsupials, which have limited access to energy in the form of food but ample
access to solar radiation, employ basking to facilitate arousal from torpor and reduce the costs of rewarming. We investigated
torpor patterns and basking behaviour in free-ranging fat-tailed dunnarts Sminthopsis crassicaudata (10 g) in autumn and winter using small, internal temperature-sensitive transmitters. Torpid animals emerged from their resting
sites in cracking soil at ∼1000 h with body temperatures as low as 14.6°C and positioned themselves in the sun throughout
the rewarming process. On average, torpor duration in autumn was shorter, and basking was less pronounced in autumn than in
winter. These are the first observations of basking during rewarming in S. crassicaudata and only the second direct evidence of basking in a torpid mammal for the reduction of energetic costs during arousal from
torpor and normothermia. Our findings suggest that although overlooked in the past, basking may be widely distributed amongst
heterothermic mammals. Therefore, the energetic benefits from torpor use in wild animals may currently be underestimated. |
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