Regulated nocturnal hypothermia induced in pigeons by food deprivation.

The daily body temperature (Tb) cycle of pigeons is altered by food deprivation in that Tb falls to lower and lower levels on consecutive nights after the onset of deprivation, whereas the Tb levels during corresponding days remain nearly unchanged. Manipulations of spinal cord temperature, a major feedback parameter in the avian thermoregulatory system, reveal that episodes of nocturnal hypothermia are regulated. The spinal cord threshold temperature for inducing increases in metabolic heat production falls to progressively lower levels each night and returns to normal euthermic levels during the day.