02359naa a2200265 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000150006024500640007526000090013952016920014865000110184065000220185165000130187365000160188665000210190265000160192365300140193965300110195365300180196465300210198270000170200370000210202077300520204118117242017-03-10       2005    bl ---       0--  u    #d1 aCAMPOS, Z.  aField body temperatures of caimans in the Pantanal, Brazil.  c2005  aBody temperatures of 51 caimans in the Pantanal were monitored by radio telemetry in cool (dry season) and warn (dry and wet seasons) season in an area with isolated lakes and an area with intermittent rivers. Cloacal temperatures of 739 caimans of different sizes captured between 1830 hrs and 2200 hrs were measured with a digital thermometer between August 1996 and September 1999 in the same area. The masses of caimans monitored ranged from 3 to 42 kg, and caiman size affected the amplitude of body temperatures. Small caimans generally had lower mean body temperatures than larger caimans only at the beginning of the night in the cool season before body temperatures equilibrated with water temperatures. Mean body temperatures was 25.7 °C in the cool season and 30.1 °C in the warn season, with a minimum of 16.9 °C and a maximum 0f 37.9 °C. In the warn season, caimans spent more time in shady areas, on land or in the water, than exposed directly to sunlight and body temperatures only slightly exceeded water temperatures. In the cool season, caimans basked in the sun, both on land and in water, and caimans on land achieved body tempratures up to 15 °C above water temperatures, byt body temperatures of caimans on land rarely exceeded air temperatures during day light hours. Gravid females did not have higher temperatures than females that were not gravid. The caimans appeared to vary from near thermoconformity in the warm season to active thermoregulation when water temperatures were less than about 28 °C. However caimans often appeared to give low priority to thermoregulation, and much shuttling behavior may occur for reasons unrelated to thermoregulation.  aBrazil  aCaiman crocodilus  aPantanal  atemperature  athermoregulation  aTemperatura  aBehaviour  aBrasil  aComportamento  aTermoregulação1 aCOUTINHO, M.1 aMAGNUSSON, W. E.  tHerpetological Journalgv. 15, p. 97-106, 2005.