Plateau pikas live through the winter on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by reducing energy requirements and feeding on yak dung

The precipitation and partial pressure of oxygen on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are very low, and the ambient temperature in winter often drops below -30 ^o C.

Researchers from Wang Dehua's research group from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhang Yanming's research group from the Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and John Speakman's research group from the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently completed a 13-year collaborative study , Reveals the mystery of the plateau pika overwintering

Researchers used Doubly-labelled water technology to measure the seasonal changes in the daily energy expenditure (DEE) of the free-living plateau pika, and the results showed that although the average ambient temperature in winter is lower than in summer At 25 ^o C, the daily energy consumption of plateau pikas in winter is significantly reduced.

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Article link: John R.

Figure 1 The daily energy consumption of plateau pikas living in the wild on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau measured by the double standard water technology (DLW) (the hollow dots in the figure indicate that the data are from June to September in summer, and the solid black dots indicate that the data are from November to November in winter March

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