Mass-corrected field metabolic rates of free-ranging male koalas in central Queensland, Australia, varied between 0.329 MJ kg0.75 day-1 in summer and 0.382 MJ kg0.75 day-1 in winter. Field water influx measured 50.8 mL kg-0.8 day-1 in winter, increasing to 59.9 mL kg0.8 day-1 in summer for the same koalas, and was positively correlated with values for leaf moisture of food. Winter rates of water influx for koalas from Springsure were lower than those recorded for koalas from Victoria for the same period of the year. Mass-corrected feeding rates were lower in summer than winter; wet food intake was significantly lower than reported for similar sized female koalas from Victoria. The preferred browse was Eucalyptus crebra in winter and E. tereticornis in summer. Our study indicates that in central Queensland seasonal changes in diet selection by male koalas reflect increased energy requirements in winter and increased water requirements in summer.
Tritiated-water turnover rates for captive Nyctophilus geoffroyi were highest at 1031.3 mL L-1 day-1 for lactating females in January 1985 and lowest at 82.5 mL L-1 day-1 for females receiving a temperature-determined food supply in July 1985. Daily rates of water turnover were generally higher for males than females, and for bats receiving ad libitum food than for those receiving a controlled food supply throughout winter, indicating that food availability affects torpor in N. geoffroyi. Pre-winter fat deposition was more efficient under conditions of a temperature-determined food supply, where activity, weight and fat-level fluctuations of captive N. geoffroyi closely resembled those known for free-ranging temperate-zone microchiropterans.
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