The carotid rete and artiodactyl success
Since the Eocene, the diversity of artiodactyls has increased while that of perissodactyls has decreased. Reasons given for this contrasting pattern are that the evolution of a ruminant digestive tract and improved locomotion in artiodactyls were adaptively advantageous in the highly seasonal post-E...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 2024-09-30T14:31:04+00:00 The carotid rete and artiodactyl success Mitchell, G Lust, A 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 4, issue 4, page 415-418 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2008 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 2024-09-17T04:34:51Z Since the Eocene, the diversity of artiodactyls has increased while that of perissodactyls has decreased. Reasons given for this contrasting pattern are that the evolution of a ruminant digestive tract and improved locomotion in artiodactyls were adaptively advantageous in the highly seasonal post-Eocene climate. We suggest that evolution of a carotid rete, a structure highly developed in artiodactyls but absent in perissodactyls, was at least as important. The rete confers an ability to regulate brain temperature independently of body temperature. The net effect is that in hot ambient conditions artiodactyls are able to conserve energy and water, and in cold ambient conditions they are able to conserve body temperature. In perissodactyls, brain and body temperature change in parallel and thermoregulation requires abundant food and water to warm/cool the body. Consequently, perissodactyls occupy habitats of low seasonality and rich in food and water, such as tropical forests. Conversely, the increased thermoregulatory flexibility of artiodactyls has facilitated invasion of new adaptive zones ranging from the Arctic Circle to deserts and tropical savannahs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic The Royal Society Arctic Biology Letters 4 4 415 418 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Since the Eocene, the diversity of artiodactyls has increased while that of perissodactyls has decreased. Reasons given for this contrasting pattern are that the evolution of a ruminant digestive tract and improved locomotion in artiodactyls were adaptively advantageous in the highly seasonal post-Eocene climate. We suggest that evolution of a carotid rete, a structure highly developed in artiodactyls but absent in perissodactyls, was at least as important. The rete confers an ability to regulate brain temperature independently of body temperature. The net effect is that in hot ambient conditions artiodactyls are able to conserve energy and water, and in cold ambient conditions they are able to conserve body temperature. In perissodactyls, brain and body temperature change in parallel and thermoregulation requires abundant food and water to warm/cool the body. Consequently, perissodactyls occupy habitats of low seasonality and rich in food and water, such as tropical forests. Conversely, the increased thermoregulatory flexibility of artiodactyls has facilitated invasion of new adaptive zones ranging from the Arctic Circle to deserts and tropical savannahs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mitchell, G Lust, A |
spellingShingle |
Mitchell, G Lust, A The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
author_facet |
Mitchell, G Lust, A |
author_sort |
Mitchell, G |
title |
The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
title_short |
The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
title_full |
The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
title_fullStr |
The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
title_full_unstemmed |
The carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
title_sort |
carotid rete and artiodactyl success |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 4, issue 4, page 415-418 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0138 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
415 |
op_container_end_page |
418 |
_version_ |
1811635741283844096 |