Sloth metabolism may make survival untenable under climate change scenarios.

Although climate change is predicted to have a substantial effect on the energetic requirements of organisms, the longer-term implications are often unclear. Sloths are limited by the rate at which they can acquire energy and are unable to regulate core body temperature (T) to the extent seen in most mammals. Therefore, the metabolic impacts of climate change on sloths are expected to be profound.

Combining accelerometry with allometry for estimating daily energy expenditure in joules when in-lab calibration is unavailable.

Background: All behaviour requires energy, and measuring energy expenditure in standard units (joules) is key to linking behaviour to ecological processes. Animal-borne accelerometers are commonly used to infer proxies of energy expenditure, termed 'dynamic body acceleration' (DBA). However, converting acceleration proxies (m/s) to standard units (watts) involves costly in-lab respirometry measurements, and there is a lack of viable substitutes for empirical calibration relationships when these are unavailable.

Categorising cheetah behaviour using tri-axial accelerometer data loggers: a comparison of model resolution and data logger performance.

Background: Extinction is one of the greatest threats to the living world, endangering organisms globally, advancing conservation to the forefront of species research. To maximise the efficacy of conservation efforts, understanding the ecological, physiological, and behavioural requirements of vulnerable species is vital. Technological advances, particularly in remote sensing, enable researchers to continuously monitor movement and behaviours of multiple individuals simultaneously with minimal human intervention.

How often should dead-reckoned animal movement paths be corrected for drift?

Background: Understanding what animals do in time and space is important for a range of ecological questions, however accurate estimates of how animals use space is challenging. Within the use of animal-attached tags, radio telemetry (including the Global Positioning System, 'GPS') is typically used to verify an animal's location periodically. Straight lines are typically drawn between these 'Verified Positions' ('VPs') so the interpolation of space-use is limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the system's measurement.

An "orientation sphere" visualization for examining animal head movements.

Animal behavior is elicited, in part, in response to external conditions, but understanding how animals perceive the environment and make the decisions that bring about these behavioral responses is challenging.Animal heads often move during specific behaviors and, additionally, typically have sensory systems (notably vision, smell, and hearing) sampling in defined arcs (normally to the front of their heads). As such, head-mounted electronic sensors consisting of accelerometers and magnetometers, which can be used to determine the movement and directionality of animal heads (where head "movement" is defined here as changes in heading [azimuth] and/or pitch [elevation angle]), can potentially provide information both on behaviors in general and also clarify which parts of the environment the animals might be prioritizing ("environmental framing").

Effects of body size on estimation of mammalian area requirements.

Accurately quantifying species' area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area-based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home-range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated.

Dietary effects on pelage emissivity in mammals: Implications for infrared thermography.

Infrared thermography is becoming popular to measure animal surface temperature non-invasively. However, its application in quantitative mammal research is restricted by a paucity of pelage emissivity measurements, which are necessary to acquire accurate temperature readings. Furthermore, the factors influencing pelage emissivity remain largely unknown.

Thermoregulatory differences in African mole-rat species from disparate habitats: Responses and limitations.

Individuals and populations possess physiological adaptations to survive local environmental conditions. To occur in different regions where ambient temperature varies, animals must adopt appropriate thermoregulatory mechanisms. Failure to adjust to environmental challenges may result in species distributional range shifts or decreased viability.

No energetic cost of tuberculosis infection in European badgers (Meles meles).

Energy availability and energy use directly influence an organism's life history, fitness and ecological function. In wild animals, abiotic factors such as ambient temperature, season and rainfall, and biotic factors such as body mass, age, social group size and disease status, all potentially influence energy balance. Relatively few studies have examined the effects of disease on the energy expenditure of wild animals.

The loss of ecosystem-services emerging from artificial light at night.

Light pollution is increasing worldwide, affecting human health and ecosystem quality. The adverse effect of this novel pollution, mediated in mammals by suppression of the pineal neuro-hormone melatonin production and secretion, particularly by short wavelength (SWL) illumination. Currently, this problem is not challenged sufficiently, even ignored by decision-makers at local and national levels, as well as other related organizations.

The metabolic response of the sloth to temperature.

Poikilotherms and homeotherms have different, well-defined metabolic responses to ambient temperature ( ), but both groups have high power costs at high temperatures. Sloths () are critically limited by rates of energy acquisition and it has previously been suggested that their unusual departure from homeothermy mitigates the associated costs. No studies, however, have examined how sloth body temperature and metabolic rate vary with .

The ability of magnetic field sensors to monitor feeding in three domestic herbivores.

The rate at which animals ingest food is a fundamental part of animal ecology although it is rarely quantified, with recently-developed animal-attached tags providing a potentially viable approach. However, to date, these methods lack clarity in differentiating various eating behaviours, such as 'chewing' from 'biting'. The aims of this study were to examine the use of inter-mandibular angle sensors (IMASENs), to quantify grazing behaviour in herbivores including cattle (), sheep () and pygmy goats () eating different foodstuffs.

The hairy lizard: heterothermia affects anaesthetic requirements in the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx).

Objective: To study the effect of heterothermia on anaesthetic drug requirements in semi-free ranging Arabian oryx and to assess the temperature quotient (Q) of oxygen consumption.

Study Design: Prospective observational study and controlled metabolic experiment.

Animals: Sixty-eight anaesthetic events in 59 Arabian oryx from Mahazat As-Sayd protected area, Saudi Arabia METHODS: Anaesthesia was induced by remote injection of 25 mg ketamine, 10 mg midazolam and 0.

Winter Is Coming: Seasonal Variation in Resting Metabolic Rate of the European Badger (Meles meles).

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is a measure of the minimum energy requirements of an animal at rest, and can give an indication of the costs of somatic maintenance. We measured RMR of free-ranging European badgers (Meles meles) to determine whether differences were related to sex, age and season. Badgers were captured in live-traps and placed individually within a metabolic chamber maintained at 20 ± 1°C.

Mass enhances speed but diminishes turn capacity in terrestrial pursuit predators.

The dynamics of predator-prey pursuit appears complex, making the development of a framework explaining predator and prey strategies problematic. We develop a model for terrestrial, cursorial predators to examine how animal mass modulates predator and prey trajectories and affects best strategies for both parties. We incorporated the maximum speed-mass relationship with an explanation of why larger animals should have greater turn radii; the forces needed to turn scale linearly with mass whereas the maximum forces an animal can exert scale to a 2/3 power law.

Mammalian energetics. Flexible energetics of cheetah hunting strategies provide resistance against kleptoparasitism.

Population viability is driven by individual survival, which in turn depends on individuals balancing energy budgets. As carnivores may function close to maximum sustained power outputs, decreased food availability or increased activity may render some populations energetically vulnerable. Prey theft may compromise energetic budgets of mesopredators, such as cheetahs and wild dogs, which are susceptible to competition from larger carnivores.