Body Temperatures of Petrels

During the course of a study of the development rates of albatrosses, shearwaters, and other petrels (Warham MS), the existing data on body temperatures of birds in the order Procellariiformes were examined.These suggested that petrels have unusually low body temperatures and that these might provide clues to the birds' unusually long incubation and nestling periods.Subsequently it b' ecame possible to extend the data to cover a much wider range of species during visits to the Campbell, Antipodes, and Snares Islands, south of New Zealand.Figures for 31 species are now available.(1966) used Prevost' s (1964) data for body temperature for Pagodromu nivea but linked these with body weights evidently taken from Maher (1962) for a sample from a population composed of much smaller birds.Where possible the weights are based on determinations of birds not carrying heavy reserves of subdermal fat.