ArticlePloS one2010
Torpor on demand: heterothermy in the non-lemur primate Galago moholi.
Article in PloS one, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 148 citations in OpenAlex.
- Telomere dynamics during hibernation in a tropical primate.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2024Article
- Survivable hypothermia or torpor in a wild-living rat: rare insights broaden our understanding of endothermic physiology.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2022Article
- Ambient Temperature Cycles Affect Daily Torpor and Hibernation Patterns in Malagasy Tenrecs.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
- Staying hot to fight the heat-high body temperatures accompany a diurnal endothermic lifestyle in the tropics.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2018Article
- The effect of body mass and diet composition on torpor patterns in a Malagasy primate (Microcebus murinus).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2017Article
- Searching for the Haplorrhine Heterotherm: Field and Laboratory Data of Free-Ranging Tarsiers.Frontiers in physiology · 2017Article
- The hustle and bustle of city life: monitoring the effects of urbanisation in the African lesser bushbaby.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2015Article
- Daily torpor and hibernation in birds and mammals.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2015Article
- Torpor is not the only option: seasonal variations of the thermoneutral zone in a small primate.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2014Article
- Thermoregulatory plasticity in free-ranging vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2014Article
- Torpor as an emergency solution in Galago moholi: heterothermy is triggered by different constraints.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2013Article
- Hiding from the moonlight: luminosity and temperature affect activity of Asian nocturnal primates in a highly seasonal forest.PloS one · 2012Article
- Heterothermy in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHibernation and daily torpor are energy- and water-saving adaptations employed to survive unfavourable periods mostly in temperate and arctic environments, but also in tropical and arid climates. Heterothermy has been found in a number of mammalian orders, but within the primates so far it seems to be restricted to one family of Malagasy lemurs. As currently there is no evidence of heterothermy of a primate outside of Madagascar, the aim of our study was to investigate whether small primates from mainland Africa are indeed always homeothermic despite pronounced seasonal changes in weather and food availability. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsOne of the nearest relatives of Malagasy lemurs, the African lesser bushbaby, Galago moholi, which inhabits a highly seasonal habitat with a hot wet-season and a cold dry-season with lower food abundance, was investigated to determine whether it is capable of heterothermy. We measured skin temperature of free-ranging individuals throughout the cool dry season using temperature-sensitive collars as well as metabolic rate in captured individuals. Torpor was employed by 15% of 20 animals. Only one of these animals displayed heterothermy in response to natural availability of food and water, whereas the other animals became torpid without access to food and water. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that G. moholi are physiologically capable of employing torpor. However they do not use it as a routine behaviour, but only under adverse conditions. This reluctance is presumably a result of conflicting selective pressures for energy savings versus other ecological and evolutionary forces, such as reproduction or territory defence. Our results support the view that heterothermy in primates evolved before the division of African and Malagasy Strepsirhini, with the possible implication that more primate species than previously thought might still have the potential to call upon this possibility, if the situation necessitates it.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.