Body temperature in captive long-beaked echidnas ( Zaglossus bartoni)

Abstract

The routine occurrence of both short-term (daily) and long-term torpor (hibernation) in short-beaked echidnas, but not platypus, raises questions about the third monotreme genus, New Guinea's Zaglossus. We measured body temperatures ( T b ) with implanted data loggers over three and a half years in two captive Zaglossus bartoni at Taronga Zoo, Sydney. The modal T b of both long-beaks was 31 °C, similar to non-hibernating short-beaked echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus, in the wild (30–32 °C) and to platypus (32 °C), suggesting that this is characteristic of normothermic monotremes. T b cycled daily, usually over 2–4 °C. There were some departures from this pattern to suggest periods of inactivity but nothing to indicate the occurrence of long-term torpor. In contrast, two short-beaked echidnas monitored concurrently in the same pen showed extended periods of low T b in the cooler months (hibernation) and short periods of torpor at any time of the year, as they do in the wild. Whether torpor or hibernation occurs in Zaglossus in the wild or in juveniles remains unknown. However, given that the environment in this study was conducive to hibernation in short-beaks, which do not easily enter torpor in captivity, and their large size, we think that torpor in wild adult Zaglossus is unlikely.