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Body temperature patterns and use of torpor in an alpine glirid species, woolly dormouse

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Abstract

Woolly dormice, Dryomys laniger Felten and Storch (Senckenbergiana Biol 49(6):429–435, 1968), are a small (20–30 g), omnivorous (mainly insectivorous), nocturnal glirid species endemic to Turkey. Although woolly dormice have been assumed to hibernate during winter, no information exists on body temperature patterns and use of torpor in the species. In the present study, we aimed to determine body temperature patterns and use of torpor in woolly dormice under controlled laboratory conditions. Accordingly, body temperature (Tb) of woolly dormice was recorded using surgically implanted Thermochron iButtons, small and inexpensive temperature-sensitive data loggers. Woolly dormice exhibited robust, unimodal daily Tb rhythmicity during the euthermic stage before the beginning of hibernation. They displayed short torpor before they began hibernation, although the tendency to enter short torpor was different among individuals. Woolly dormice began hibernation within 1–3 days after exposure to cold and darkness, i.e., on October 22–24, and ended hibernation in the first half of April. Hibernation consisted of a sequence of multiday torpor bouts, interrupted by euthermic intervals. Thus, the patterns of hibernation in woolly dormice were similar to those observed in classical hibernating mammals.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank F. Spitzenberger for providing her papers on woolly dormice; E. S. Akarsu and D. Kolankaya for providing the laboratory equipments; S. Mamuk for help in the laboratory; and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We extend our warm thanks to E. Kart for modification of Thermochron iButtons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Ahi Evran University, Bağbaşı Campus, 40100, Kırşehir, Turkey

    Mutlu Kart Gür & Hakan Gür

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hacettepe University, Beytepe Campus, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Şafak Bulut

  3. Circadian Rhythm Laboratory, University of South Carolina, 807 Hampton Street, Walterboro, SC, 29488, USA

    Roberto Refinetti

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  1. Mutlu Kart Gür
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  2. Şafak Bulut
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Correspondence to Mutlu Kart Gür.

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Communicated by: Karol Zub

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Kart Gür, M., Bulut, Ş., Gür, H. et al. Body temperature patterns and use of torpor in an alpine glirid species, woolly dormouse. Acta Theriol 59, 299–309 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-013-0154-9

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