Thermal and metabolic responses of the Australian aborigine exposed to moderate cold in summer

¹ Department of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, Aeromedical Laboratory, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, Institute of Zoophysiology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway and the Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory, APO 731, Seattle, Washington

Measurements of thermal and metabolic responses of central Australian aborigines exposed to moderate cold during sleep were repeated during summer and have shown that the small, but important, differences between these natives and control whites exist in summer to the same extent as in winter. The metabolism of the central natives declined continually throughout the night with a Q₁₀ of about two in summer as in winter. Without metabolic compensation, body temperatures of the central natives fell at a greater rate than those of the whites. Measurements of thermal and metabolic responses of a mixed tribal group of tropical Australian aborigines under identical conditions of cold exposure have shown that the average tropical native was intermediate between central natives and control whites. The metabolic rate for tropical natives was 42.8 Cal/m²/hr. compared with 48.7 Cal/m²/hr. for whites and 37.0 Cal/m²/hr. for central natives. We suggest that the Australian aborigine has an inborn ability to tolerate greater body cooling without metabolic compensation which can be increased by prolonged exposure to cold.

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