Frank,
I never negated the fact that temps have a lot to do with digestion and metabolism. What I am saying is that rate of digestion has nothing to do with rate of metabolism.

I know that watching animals in their natural habitat is very important, however, I do not see how rate of metabolism compared to rate of digestion can be more easily observed in the field than it would be in captivity. Not sure how one can even study metabolic rate outside of a laboratory.