Mammal metabolism (BMR):

Mammal metabolic rates have been extensively studied for more than a century.  Although generalized equations are available, detailed analyses of mammalian BMR should account for subclass affiliations. Additionally, specific regression lines are available for some orders, and should be used when possible. Note that some recent work by Jack Hayes and others suggests that metabolism scales to mass^.667 in mammals (i.e., to the 2/3 power of mass) once mass-related differences in body temperature are accounted for.


• Brody, Kleiber, and Stahl did classical early work on eutherian BMR that is still frequently cited.

   Brody S (1945), Bioenergetics and Growth. New York: Hafner

   Kleiber M (1961), The Fire of Life. New York: John Wiley

   Stahl WR (1967), Journal of Applied Physiology 22:453-460


• Dawson and Hulbert's 1970 paper showed that marsupial BMR is lower than that of eutherians, but this is due primarily to the Q10 effect of a lower body temperature in marsupials.

  Dawson TJ, Hulbert AJ (1970), American Journal of Physiology 218:1233-1238


• MacMillen and Nelson described the metabolic allometry of a major group of marsupials, the Dasyurids.

  MacMillen RE, Nelson JE (1969), American Journal of Physiology 217:1246-1251


• Elgar and Harvey compiled data from a wide variety of mammals and demonstrated that much of the variance in BMR derives from taxonomic affiliation (instead of ecological factors such as diet, etc.) and is best examined at the level of orders.

  Elgar MA, Harvey PH (1987), Functional Ecology 1:25-36


• Bozinovic described the metabolic allometry of rodents (he also showed that across a range of body sizes, mass-corrected maximum aerobic metabolism was correlated to BMR).

  Bozinovic F (1992), Physiological Zoology 65:921-932


• White and Seymour surveyed more than 600 species of mammals and carefully analyzed the effects of size, phylogeny, zoogeography, etc. Among other findings, they concluded there were no differences in BMR between eutherians and marsupials if differences in body temperature were accounted for (similarly, mammals and birds did not differ after compensation for body temperature).

  White CR, Seymour RS (2004), Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 77:926-941