Journal of Applied Physiology Fuel your research with LabChart
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Appl Physiol 13: 211-218, 1958;
8750-7587/58 $5.00
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Scholander, P. F.
Right arrow Articles by Steen, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Scholander, P. F.
Right arrow Articles by Steen, J.

Cold Adaptation in Australian Aborigines

P. F. Scholander 1, H. T. Hammel 1, J. S. Hart 1, D. H. LeMessurier 1, and J. Steen 1

1 From the Institute of Zoophysiology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, the Department of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Division of Applied Biology, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and the Aeromedical Laboratory, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

A field investigation was conducted to study cold acclimation in the Pitjandjara, a desert tribe of Australian aborigines. Oxygen consumption and rectal and skin temperatures were taken every half hour throughout the night a) while the natives were resting naked on the ground between their camp fires and b) while they rested naked without fires in a single-blanket sleeping bag, subjected to a moderate, but known, cold stress. The air temperature frequently dropped to 0°C in the early morning. It was found that the camp fires on windless nights could readily supply enough heat to keep both the natives and whites in heat balance throughout the night and resting under basal conditions. In tests with the subjects in light sleeping bags without fires, the natives underwent a considerable peripheral skin cooling, with their foot temperatures dropping regularly to 12°–15°C. They slept soundly through the night with normal resting heat production. The white controls cooled almost as much, but unable to rest, they shivered and thrashed about all night, with a corresponding elevation of metabolism. The cooling adaptation of the Australian aborigines, which resembles the insulative cooling commonly found in mammals, differs from the metabolic compensation and greater peripheral heating developed in cold-acclimated white man.

Submitted on April 18, 1958




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.Home page
P. J. Schaeffer, J. F. Hokanson, D. J. Wells, and S. L. Lindstedt
Cold exposure increases running {V}O2 max and cost of transport in goats
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2001; 280(1): R42 - R47.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
G. W. Lasker
Human biological adaptability. The ecological approach in physical anthropology.
Science, December 19, 1969; 166(3912): 1480 - 1486.
[PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab.Home page
W. D. van Marken Lichtenbelt, P. Schrauwen, S. van de Kerckhove, and M. S. Westerterp-Plantenga
Individual variation in body temperature and energy expenditure in response to mild cold
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, May 1, 2002; 282(5): E1077 - E1083.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Visit Other APS Journals Online