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He captured birds from 89 species in Panama and, using a technique called respirometry, measured their metabolic rates across a range of temperatures.

We’ve also lugged portable respirometry equipment into the bush, a metabolic lab in a briefcase, to measure the energy costs of foraging activities such as walking, climbing, digging tubers and chopping trees.

“We can get respirometry from a single fruit fly,” said Dr. Fuller proudly as he stood before the stack of equipment that makes up the respirometer.

Meanwhile, he is working with zoos to put captive females, which weigh up to 370 kilograms, into respirometry chambers built around a polar-bear-sized 'endless pool' or treadmill.

Wild animals must be trained or coaxed into a respirometry chamber, whether in the field or in a lab, which sometimes proves difficult.