| 1. |
Rates of oxygen consumption were measured during locomotion in five species of marsupials of the family Dasyuridae. The body weights of the animals ranged between 0.15 and 1.12 kilograms.
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| 2. |
The rate of change of power input with speed was generally lower than equivalent eutherian values. The extrapolation to zero speed was consistently a higher multiple of resting metabolic levels than found in eutherians.
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| 3. |
The minimum cost of locomotion (M
run) as a function of body mass (wt) is described by the equationM
run=4.75 wt–0.34. The exponent is similar to that described for eutherians and reptiles, but the constant term is significantly lower.
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| 4. |
Metabolic scope in these animals is similar over the size range used and may be greater than in eutherians.
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| 5. |
Heat dissipation during locomotion has been partitioned into evaporative and non-evaporative routes. Storage of heat during locomotion was never more than fifty per cent of total production.
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