Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 77000, Port Elizabeth, 6031, South Africa.
J Comp Physiol B. 2011 Apr;181(3):437-45. doi: 10.1007/s00360-010-0531-5. Epub 2010 Nov 17.
Most research on mammalian heterothermic responses in southern Africa tends to be laboratory based and biased towards rodents and smaller members of the Afrotheria. In this study, we continuously measured body temperature of southern African hedgehogs (Atelerix frontalis) between April and August 2009 (-10°C < T (a) < 43°C), kept under semi-captive conditions. A. frontalis showed a high propensity for torpor with animals spending up to 84% of the measurement period torpid. During this study, A. frontalis displayed the lowest T (b min) (ca 1°C) yet recorded in an Afrotropical placental heterotherm. Bout lengths of between 0.7 h (40 min) and 116.3 h (4.8 days) were recorded. Differences in bout length were observed between lighter individuals compared with an individual exhibiting a higher body mass at the onset of winter, with low M (b) individuals exhibiting daily torpor whereas a heavier individual exhibited torpor bouts that were indicative of hibernation. Our results suggest that heterothermic responses are an important feature in the energy balance equation of this species and that body mass at the onset of winter may determine the patterns of heterothermy utilised in this species.
大多数关于南非哺乳动物异温响应的研究往往基于实验室，偏向于啮齿动物和更大的非洲兽总目成员。在这项研究中，我们在 2009 年 4 月至 8 月期间连续测量了南非刺猬（Atelerix frontalis）的体温（-10°C<T(a)<43°C），它们处于半圈养条件下。A. frontalis 表现出很高的进入蛰伏的倾向，动物在测量期间有高达 84%的时间处于蛰伏状态。在这项研究中，A. frontalis 表现出了在热带胎盘异温动物中记录到的最低 T(b min)（约 1°C）。记录到的蛰伏持续时间在 0.7 小时（40 分钟）到 116.3 小时（4.8 天）之间。在体重较轻的个体与在冬季开始时表现出更高体重的个体之间观察到了蛰伏持续时间的差异，低 M(b)个体表现出每日蛰伏，而体重较重的个体表现出的蛰伏持续时间表明它们进入了冬眠。我们的结果表明，异温响应是该物种能量平衡方程中的一个重要特征，冬季开始时的体重可能决定了该物种中使用的异温模式。
