Resting heart rate and tympanic temperature in operant conditioned western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla).
The conscious, resting heart rate and body temperature of healthy western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is not reported in the literature. To obtain this information, two clinically healthy adult male western lowland gorillas in a training program were conditioned to allow auscultation and obtain tympanic temperatures. The mean heart rate was 73.8 +/- 8.96 beats per minute (n = 176), and it was lower than mean heart rate reported in studies on anesthetized gorillas. The mean tympanic temperature was 35.5 +/- 0.7 degrees C (95.9 +/- 1.23 degrees F) (n = 209). The right tympanic temperature (rtt) and left tympanic temperature (ltt) were recorded separately for one gorilla. A small but statistically significant difference was present between the mean rtt of 35.8 +/- 0.7 degrees C (96.5 +/- 1.2 degrees F) (n = 137) and the mean ltt of 35.7 +/- 0.8 degrees C (96.2 +/- 1.3 degrees F) (n = 121).
Alaska Wildlife and Wildfowl Conservation, Inc., PO Box 277, Grand Cane, Louisiana 71032, USA. Csbdvm@aol.com
Corrine S
CS
Brown
Jennifer M
JM
Finnegan
D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000662:veterinary*; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000502:physiology*