Seasonal Changes in Body Mass and Activity of Digestive Enzymes in Eptesicus nilssonii (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) during Hibernation ...

• Main Authors: Antonova, E. P., Belkin, V. V., Ilyukha, V. A., Khizhkin, E. A., Kalinina, S. N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2022
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; karelia*; Republic of Karelia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13474282; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13474282

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Hibernation can be considered as a circannual cycle of feeding and fasting. During winter, the absence of dietary substrates in fat storing hibernators leads to a reduction in the mass of fats and digestive organs. We examined the seasonal changes in body mass and activity of digestive enzymes in the pancreas and small intestine of the torpid Eptesicus nilssonii (Keyserling & Blasius, 1839). Adult females and males were captured in autumn (November, early hibernation), winter (February, mid hibernation) and spring (March–April, late hibernation) in northwestern Russia (Republic of Karelia). Our findings indicated that male and female E. nilssonii reduced body mass during hibernation, but females exhibited a slower decline in body mass during hibernation period than males. No significant differences in the activity of digestive enzymes were found between males and females. Pancreatic protease activity was the highest in autumn, decreased in the mid ...