An external telemetry system for recording resting heart rate variability and heart rate in free-ranging large wild mammals.

ABSTRACT: Measures of heart rate variability (and heart rate more generally) are providing powerful insights into the physiological drivers of behaviour. Resting heart rate variability (HRV) can be used as an indicator of individual differences in temperament and reactivity to physical and psychological stress. There is increasing interest in deriving such measures from free ranging wild animals, where individuals are exposed to the natural and anthropogenic stressors of life. We describe a robust, externally mounted heart rate monitor for use in wild mammals, deployed here on wild breeding adult female grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), that delivers millisecond precise measures of inter beat intervals (IBIs), allowing computation of resting HRV parameters. Based on Firstbeat™ heart rate belts, our s

SUBMITTER: Twiss SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8177659 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature