Selective brain cooling in Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx): a physiological mechanism for coping with aridity?

Abstract

Summary Selective brain cooling is a thermoregulatory effector proposed to conserve body water and, as such, may help artiodactyls cope with aridity. We measured brain and carotid blood temperature, using implanted data loggers, in five Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) in the desert of Saudi Arabia. On average, brain temperature was 0.24±0.05ºC lower than carotid blood temperature for four oryx in April. Selective brain cooling was enhanced in our Arabian oryx compared to another species from the same genus (gemsbok Oryx gazella gazella), exposed to similar ambient temperatures but less aridity. Arabian oryx displayed a lower threshold (37.8±0.1ºC vs 39.8±0.4ºC), a higher frequency (87±6 % vs 15±15%) and a higher maximum magnitude (1.2±0.2ºC vs 0.5±0.3ºC) of selective brain cooling than did gemsbok. The dominant male oryx displayed less selective brain cooling than did any of the other oryx, but selective brain cooling was enhanced in this oryx as conditions became hotter and drier. Enhanced selective brain cooling in Arabian oryx supports the hypothesis that selective brain cooling would bestow survival advantages for artiodactyl species inhabiting hot hyper-arid environments.