The Resistance of Animals to Cooling and Freezing

Smith, Audrey U.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1958.tb01307.x

Cited by 30 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 206 publications

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“…The data on hibernation clarifies the rather simplified ideas of artificial hibernation prevalent among some biologists and medical men (Giaja, 1953; Laborit and Huguenard, 1954; Kayser, 1955;Saakov, 1957;Starkov, 1957;Smith, 1958).…”

Section: European Batsupporting

confidence: 67%

Mammalian hibernation; proceedings of the First International Symposium on Natural Mammalian Hibernation, May 13-15, 1959

Dawe¹,

Lyman²

1960

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Section: European Batsupporting

confidence: 67%

Mammalian hibernation; proceedings of the First International Symposium on Natural Mammalian Hibernation, May 13-15, 1959

Dawe¹,

Lyman²

1960

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“…The reduction in percentage water content in the autumn undoubtedly represents a mechanism of resistance to freezing. Dehydration has been often observed in response to cold in poikilotherms, and the above functional interpretation has been suggested (Scholander et al 1953, Smith 1958, Salt 1961). Garter snakes were often observed during the late autumn when night temperatures drop to -3 o C. Although temperatures at exact sites of overwintering are not available, it is highly probable that they drop below freezing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Seasonal Changes in the Body Composition of the Garter Snake (Thamnophis Sirtalis Parietalis) at Northern Lattitudes

Aleksiuk¹,

Stewart²

1971

Ecology

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At northern latitudes the garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) undergoes a prolonged period of hibernation and has access to food only from mid—May to mid—September. An examination of seasonal changes in the body composition of this organism revealed that protein and ash, expressed as percentage of total body weight, remain essentially constant throughout the year. Lipids are low in the spring, increase during the summer, and decrease during the autumn and winter. Percentage water content exhibits a pattern which is the reverse of that of lipids, with the exceptions of a dehydration in the autumn and a rehydration in the spring. Expressed in absolute terms, for an animal of fixed body length, ash remains relatively constant throughout the year, while all other components show a seasonal pattern similar to that of lipids. The data suggest that the animals are near starvation in May, at the end of an 8—month aphagic period. The period of aphagia and low winter temperatures appear to be the most important factors causing seasonal changes in body composition.

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“…34 et seq.). The development of homothermy has recently been reviewed by Adolph (1957), Smith (1958) , McCance (1959), Weiss (1961), Hill (1961), Hahn et al (1961), Mott (1963) and Mount (1963b). I shall discuss this large subject only in relation to the work on the Glasgow mice.…”

Section: (3) the Development Of Homothermymentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation of Mice to Cold

Barnett

1965

Biological Reviews

109

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Summary Since 1953 laboratory mice have been bred continuously in an environment kept at – 3° C. Control stocks are kept at 21° C. All mice have cotton wool bedding. The effects of the cold environment are reviewed, and related to observations on other species exposed to cold. Physiological adaptation The principal physiological adaptation, of a small mammal exposed to cold, is increased heat production. Inbred mice, fully adapted to – 3° C., expend up to 4–5 kcal./100 g. body weight/hr., or about four times that of controls at 21°C. This is probably a maximum, maintained only outside the nest and for short periods. Colon temperature is unchanged; skin temperature, though high (31 °C. at the surface), is lower than at 21° C. (34° C.). Virgin female inbred mice at – 3° C. eat about twice as much food, per unit body weight, as controls at 21° C. The difference during late pregnancy is, however, much less; and, relative to body weight, consumption during the first 10 days of lactation is lower at – 3° C. than at 21° C. There are fewer young at ‐ 3° C. The lactating females may eat the maximum they can digest. Food is probably utilized more efficiently at ‐ 3° C. than at 21° C. Lowered external temperature reduces activity. Mice in a cold environment economize in general exploration of their environment; they also do no ‘functionless’ gnawing of friable materials. After increased heat production, the most important adaptive response is nest‐building. When accustomed to a cold environment, mice build better nests than in a warm one. But, given unfamiliar nest material, in a novel situation, they build a nest less quickly at – 3° C. than at 21° C.‐another example of economizing in energy. On exposure to cold, an increase in body weight would be adaptive. Some wild mammals increase their weight and body fat in winter. But adult laboratory mice, after transfer from 21 to ‐ 3° C., lose weight, largely owing to loss of fat. In this they resemble laboratory rats transferred to a cold environment. Similarly, inbred mice reared at ‐ 3° C. are usually lighter, at all ages, than controls at 21° C. Appendages, especially tails, are usually shorter in a cold thanin a warm environment; in mice the caudal vertebrae are shorter. The extent to which this reduces heat loss is not known. A genetically mixed stock of mice, selected for fertility at ‐ 3° C., developed longer tails during eighteen generations in the cold. Laboratory rats, after a few weeks at about +4° C., alone, without nests, have heavier liver and kidneys, intestine, heart and adrenal glands, than controls. Exposure in groups, or to seasonal cold, evokes different responses. In cold‐adapted inbred mice of the first or second generations reared at ‐3′ C., stomach, intestine, liver, and heart are heavier than those of controls. Insulation by hair is slightly increased at ‐ 3° C., though the heat‐conserving effect of this is small; the weight of the cropped skin is reduced in inbred mice, but it was unchanged in a genetically mixed stock after twelve generations in a cold...

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The Resistance of Animals to Cooling and Freezing

Cited by 30 publications

References 206 publications

Mammalian hibernation; proceedings of the First International Symposium on Natural Mammalian Hibernation, May 13-15, 1959

Mammalian hibernation; proceedings of the First International Symposium on Natural Mammalian Hibernation, May 13-15, 1959

Seasonal Changes in the Body Composition of the Garter Snake (Thamnophis Sirtalis Parietalis) at Northern Lattitudes

Adaptation of Mice to Cold

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