Variability in brain and arterial blood temperatures in free-ranging ostriches in their natural habitat
Andrea Fuller1,*,
Peter R. Kamerman1,
Shane K. Maloney1,2,
Graham Mitchell1 and
Duncan Mitchell1
1 School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, 7
York Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa
2 Department of Physiology, School of Biomedical and Chemical Science,
University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Perth, Australia

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Fig. 1. Brain and carotid blood temperatures, as a function of time of day, for
ostrich 1 over a period of 8 days. Values are means ± S.D. (shown at 1
h intervals) of 5 min readings.
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Fig. 2. Original records of brain and carotid blood temperatures taken at 5 min
intervals from two ostriches (ostrich 1, A; ostrich 3, B) over a 2 h period on
the same day.
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Fig. 3. Original records of brain and carotid blood temperatures taken at 5 min
intervals from ostrich 1 over 1 day.
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Fig. 4. Brain temperature as a function of carotid blood temperature (AiDi),
and frequency distribution of blood temperature (AiiDii), in four
ostriches. The 5 min values of blood temperature were sorted into classes of
0.1°C width. Values in AiDi are means ± S.D. and minima and
maxima of brain temperature at each class of blood temperature. AiiDii
show absolute frequencies at which each class of blood temperature occurred;
N=2304 data points for ostrich 1 (A), 1728 for ostrich 3 (B), 1440
for ostrich 5 (C) and 4032 for ostrich 4 (D). The lines of identity of brain
and blood temperatures are shown in AiDi.
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Fig. 5. Abdominal and carotid blood temperatures, as a function of time of day, for
two ostriches over 5 days (ostrich 5, A) or 8 days (ostrich 6, B). Values are
means ± S.D. (shown at 1 h intervals) of 5 min readings.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2003