Several studies have been performed to assess heart rate variability (HRV) in several species such as humans, dogs, pigs, calves, rabbits and rats. However, haemodynamic parameters are totally different in each animal, and optimal animal models for studying HRV corresponding to human HRV are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess HRV in human subjects and to compare those HRV data with canine, bovine and rabbit HRV data. The heart rate in the human subjects (62.8 +/- 7.4 bpm) was significantly lower than that in dogs (124.2 +/- 18.8 bpm, P < 0.001), calves (73.4 +/- 10.5 bpm, P < 0.05), and rabbits (217.3 +/- 21.5 bpm, P < 0.001). The low-frequency waves (LF) (57.9 +/- 65.8 ms(2)/Hz) and high-frequency waves (HF) (33.8 +/- 49.1 ms(2)/Hz) in rabbits were significantly lower than human LF (1216.3 +/- 1220.7 ms(2)/Hz, P < 0.05) and HF (570.9 +/- 581.3 ms(2)/Hz, P < 0.05). Dogs and calves showed similar LF (991.1 +/- 646.1 ms(2)/Hz and 547.0 +/- 256.9 ms(2)/Hz, respectively), HF (702.1 +/- 394.1 ms(2)/Hz and 601.0 +/- 666.6 ms(2)/Hz, respectively) and LF/HF (2.0 +/- 1.3 and 2.5 +/- 1.9, respectively) when compared with the human data. The present study shows that dogs and calves revealed similar HRV values as those which relate to humans. Large deviation of the HRV values in rabbits compared with humans might be considered when conducting animal studies using those animals to reflect human clinical situations.