Abstract
Wild silky anteaters (Cyclopes didactylus) were studied in Panama during the dry season using doubly-labeled water (DLW) to measure field metabolic rates (FMR) and water intake rates (WIR), and to estimate feeding rates. Their daily requirements for energy, food and water were low: only one- to two-thirds of those of typical eutherian mammals with the same body size. Anteaters' body-size-adjusted requirements were similar to, but higher than, those of sympatric three-toed sloths, another xenarthran species. Xenarthrans in general may have unusually low metabolic intensities and nutritional needs. Silky anteaters were strictly nocturnal, arboreal and myrmecophagous, and had relatively low body temperatures (31.5 °C).Se estudiaron serafines del platanar (Cyclopes didactylus) en Panamá durante la estación seca con agua doblemente marcada (DLW) para medir las tasas metabólicas de campo (FMR), la tasa de ingesta de agua (WIR) y para estimar las tasas de alimentatión. Sus requerimientos diarios de energía, alimento y agua fueron bajos: correspondían a uno a dos tercios de los valores típicos para mamíferos euterios de tamaño corporal similar. Los requerimientos de los serafines, ajustados por el tamaño corporal, fueron similares pero más altos que los registrados en otra especie de Xenarthra simpátrica, el perezoso de tres dedos. Los xenartros en general pueden tener intensidades metabólicas y necesidades nutricionales inusualmente bajas. Los serafines del platanar fueron estrictamente nocturnos, arbóreos y mirmecófagos, y tenían una temperature corporal relativamente baja (31,5 °C).
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