Heated Taxidermic Mounts: A Means of Measuring the Standard Operative Temperature Affecting Small Animals

The theory and procedures for using electrically heated taxidermic mounts to measure the standard operative temperature, T e s , of natural habitats have been examined using the American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, T e s is a thermal index directly related to the metabolic requirements of a specific endothermic animal. T e s may be calculated from a thermal energy budget analysis. However, direct measurement of T e s using heated mounts as “environmental temperature thermometers” is simpler and allows measurements in confined spaces, such as nocturnal roots, which are inaccessible to conventional instrumentation. For the goldfinch, heated mounts predict metabolic heating less evaporative cooling with an uncertainty of ±5% for temperatures below the thermal neutral zone and winds of 0−1.5 m/s.