Comparison between the coat temperature of the eland and dairy cattle by infrared thermography

Little is known about the thermoregulatory response of the eland, a tropical animal often raised in temperate climate. We compared the surface temperature (Ts) of the eland with that of similarly sized Holstein–Friesian dairy cattle at three different ambient temperatures (Ta) to get better evidence about thermal response. The Ts of all body areas (neck, dewlap, trunk, body forepart, barrel, body hind part, forelimb and rear limb) did not differ at Ta 29.2 °C, but at Ta 12.5 °C all the areas of the eland (except the neck) had lower mean Ts than those areas in cattle. At Ta 0.4 °C, only the eland dewlap had a lower Ts and the eland neck had a higher Ts than that in cattle.