Environmental—Thermoregulatory Interactions and Neonatal Piglet Survival

Abstract

SWINE husbandmen generally recognize that piglets require a warm, dry environment for survival, especially during the first few days after birth. But only recently have we begun to learn why this is so, corroborating what Samuel Brody observed: animal scientists often attempt to explain scientifically what husbandmen have recognized for many years (Campbell and Lasley, 1969). An attempt will be made here to integrate environmental and thermoregulatory aspects of the neonatal piglet's energy budget with a view toward the relation between thermoregulatory development and survival. Emphasis will be placed on the physical interaction between the piglet and its external environment and on the nature of piglets' thermoregulatory responses to cold. Birth: An Abrupt and Profound Environmental Change. The neonatal animal exists in two environments. The external environment surrounds the whole body, while the individual cells exist in the internal environment. The neonate must respond to its new and fluctuating external environment to sustain internal homeokinesis. Many die neonatally; some presumably are unable to adjust to independent extrauterine life. Copyright © 1970. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1970 by American Society of Animal Science