WINTER BODY-FAT, FOOD-CONSUMPTION AND NONSHIVERING THERMOGENESIS OF REPRESENTATIVE SPONTANEOUS AND FACULTATIVE HIBERNATORS - THE WHITE-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG AND BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG
Hj. Harlow, WINTER BODY-FAT, FOOD-CONSUMPTION AND NONSHIVERING THERMOGENESIS OF REPRESENTATIVE SPONTANEOUS AND FACULTATIVE HIBERNATORS - THE WHITE-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG AND BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG, Journal of thermal biology, 22(1), 1997, pp. 21-30
1. White-tailed prairie dogs are spontaneous hibernators while black-t
ailed prairie dogs do not hibernate unless severely deprived of food a
nd water at low ambient temperatures. 2. Contrary to what has been tho
ught about spontaneous and facultative hibernators, both of these spec
ies in this study had similar body fat content when trapped in the fie
ld. Also, both species had an identical nonshivering thermogenic respo
nse when tested at mid-winter. 3. White-tailed prairie dogs became spo
ntaneously anorexic during late fall and underwent bouts of torpor whi
le the black-tailed prairie dogs continued to eat throughout the winte
r and only rarely entered torpor. 4. In spite of their different therm
oregulatory and eating behaviors, both species exhibited the same body
weight profiles through the fall, winter and spring. 5. It is conclud
ed that the lack of spontaneous hibernation in the black-tailed prairi
e dog may be a derived characteristic, divergent from the condition in
the ancestral stock. However, the genetically controlled 'sliding' bo
dy weight set-point remains similar to that of the hibernating white-t
ailed prairie dog, a representative of the presumed ancestral conditio
n. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.