Energy balance and brown adipose tissue thermogenesis were examined during pregnancy in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Neither estrous cycles nor pregnancy had any effect on food intake, but both were accompanied by significant changes in body weight. Despite their substantial weight gains (attributable to growth of fetuses and placentas), pregnant hamsters actually lost a mean of 48 kJ in carcass energy, whereas unmated controls gained 98 kJ over the same 15 days. During pregnancy hamsters exhibited an increase in protein deposition (almost entirely in the fetuses and placentas), but they lost nearly 40% of their body lipid. An apparent increase in energy expenditure occurred despite a highly significant decrease in brown adipose tissue thermogenesis during pregnancy. By day 15 of pregnancy (within 13 h of expected parturition) there were substantial decreases in interscapular brown adipose tissue weight (-59%), protein content (-54%), and cytochrome-c oxidase activity (-69%). These changes in brown adipose tissue were evident by day 4 of pregnancy and persisted through lactation. It is suggested that this suppression of brown adipose tissue function is due to increased circulating levels of prolactin and subsequently to the nutritional stress of conceptus growth in the absence of an increase in food intake.