SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF HEART-RATE AND OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION IN BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOGS (CYNOMYS-LUDOVICIANUS)

Studies were conducted to explore the potential for using telemetry of heart rates as an index of rates of energy expenditures in free-ranging black-tailed prairie dogs (C. ludovicianus). For periods of 1 h with activities varying spontaneously or by exciting the animal, heart rate and O2 consumption were highly correlated with coefficients averaging > 0.9. The relationships appeared stable for one to a few days but differed over weeks or longer. Relative comparisions of costs for behaviors over circadian cycles and a few days would seem feasible by the heart rate index method in prairie dogs.