THE IMPACT OF WATER TEMPERATURE ON CORE BODY-TEMPERATURE OF NORTH-AMERICAN RIVER OTTERS (LUTRA-CANADENSIS) DURING SIMULATED OIL-SPILL RECOVERY WASHING PROTOCOLS
Mk. Stoskopf et al., THE IMPACT OF WATER TEMPERATURE ON CORE BODY-TEMPERATURE OF NORTH-AMERICAN RIVER OTTERS (LUTRA-CANADENSIS) DURING SIMULATED OIL-SPILL RECOVERY WASHING PROTOCOLS, Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine, 28(4), 1997, pp. 407-412
Ten North American river otters (Lutra canadensis) were anesthetized w
ith Telazol and instrumented with ingestable radiotelemetry temperatur
e sensors for measuring core body temperature. The otters were then su
bjected to a washing protocol to simulate rehabilitation following an
oil spill contamination. This protocol consisted of a 30-min wash in a
1:16 dilution of dishwashing liquid using either cold (24 degrees C)
water or water near baseline core body temperature (38.4 degrees C), f
ollowed by a 30-min rinse with water of the same temperature, followed
by 10 min of forced hot air drying. Core body temperatures of the ott
ers washed in cold water fell at a median rate of 0.1 degrees C/min, w
hereas otters washed in warm water maintained stable core temperatures
until the completion of the protocol, at which time their core temper
atures began to drop at a similar rate. Core temperatures restabilized
in both groups, and no statistical difference in core temperature bet
ween groups remained 180 min after initiation of the protocol. Efforts
to examine the efficacy of supplemental squalene administration to sp
eed the recovery of fur condition and waterproofing were unsuccessful
because the washing protocol did not cause loss of coat waterproofing
in 8 of the 10 subjects.