| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to record simultaneously temperatures from body subcutaneous areas, flipper subcutaneous areas and the gut lumen in several species of unrestrained pinnipeds in order to document the use of peripheral heat control in deep body temperature regulation. Three species of pinnipeds were utilized in this investigation, the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris), the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) and the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus). With this information, it should be possible to attempt some correlation between the anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations found in this group of mammals that enables them to live in the difficult thermal environments they inhabit.
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