Cost of locomotion and heat balance during rest and running from 0 to 55 degrees C in a patas monkey.

A young patas monkey was run on a treadmill for 15-20 min at speeds in excess of 15 km times h-1 over a range of laboratory air temperatures from 0 to 55 degrees C. Cost of locomotion for the monkey was 83% that predicted for a running mammal of similar weight, 4 kg. At the highest steady-state running of speeds, the patas monkey's energy expenditure was 11 times the resting rate. Heat storage and respiratory evaporation during running each accounted for less than 16% of the heat production. Cutaneous evaporation, mainly sweating, was the major means of heat loss at high ambient temperatures and during heavy exercise. Maximum sweat rates of 0.5 mg times cm-2 times min-1 found in these experiments approach the sweat rates of humans. Whole-body dry thermal conductance increased 2-3 times the rest value at a given temperature. Environmentally gained heat contributed about two-thirds of the total heat load on the patas monkey at rest at 53 degrees C. At these same temperatures, environmental and metabolic heat loads were about equal when the animal ran at moderately high speeds (11-13.4 km times h-1).