Studies on the Role of Regional Heterothermy in the Energy Balance of Selected Arctic Mammals.

• Main Author: Albert, Thomas F
• Other Authors: MARYLAND UNIV COLLEGE PARK DEPT OF VETERINARY SCIENCE
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1977
• Subjects: Biology; *RODENTS; *HOUSING(DWELLINGS); *WINTERIZATION; MONITORING; STRESS(PHYSIOLOGY); HEATING; HETEROGENEITY; COLD WEATHER; HEAT BALANCE; ARCTIC REGIONS; THERMAL INSULATION; Arctic; Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA045524; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA045524

A small colony of arctic marmots, Marmota browerii, has been established at Barrow, Alaska. Five were trapped in the Alaskan Brook's Range. The other seven were conceived and born in captivity. Artificial marmot dens constructed from plywood contained an insulated nest chamber 61 cm long, 76 cm wide and 66 cm deep. A wooden tunnel connected the den to an external wire enclosure (2.4 m x 2.4 m). Den temperatures were monitored weekly by means of implanted thermocouples. Four adults overwintered in a den provided with a modest artificial heat source, in order that they be not unduly risked. Four arctic ground squirrels, Citellus parryi, overwintered in a second den that had no artificial heat source. Their den temperature was only once below -25 C while that of the ambient was below this on 17 occasions. An earlier study showed that marmots could overwinter with artificial den temperatures as low as -25 C. In view of this and the finding with the den containing the ground squirrels, it seems that such dens are suitable overwintering sites for marmots in the Barrow area and that the establishment of a self-sustaining colony is likely.