Warm Blooded Animals

Animals have some unique adaptations that help them live in even the most hostile environments. Consider camels, for instance. They can thrive in some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. Their legs don’t burn when they kneel on hot sand due to thick leathery patches on their knees. They can survive for an entire week without water, but at the same time, they can drink 32 gallons of water at once. Their body temperature ranges from 930F to 1050F. Have you ever wondered how they do that?

The most important adaptation is how animals regulate their body temperature. Animals can be either warm-blooded or cold-blooded and here we’ll be discussing warm-blooded animals. 

What is warm-blooded?

Warm-blooded is an informal term referring to animal species that can maintain a body temperature higher than their environment. In particular, homeothermic species maintain a stable body temperature by regulating metabolic processes. The only known living homeotherms are birds and mammals, and the only living homeothermic reptiles are Argentine black and white tegu. Some extinct reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, and some non-avian dinosaurs are believed to have been homeotherms. Other species have various degrees of thermoregulation.

Terms Related To Warm-Blooded Animals

In general, warm-bloodedness refers to three separate categories of thermoregulation.

Endothermy is the ability of some creatures to control their body temperatures internally, such as muscle shivering or increasing their Metabolism. The opposite of endothermy is ectothermy.

Homeothermy maintains a stable internal body temperature regardless of external influence and temperatures. The stable internal temperature is often higher than the immediate environment. The opposite is poikilothermy. Mammals and birds are homeothermic.

Tachy Metabolism maintains a high “resting” metabolism; in essence, each metabolic creature is “on” all the time. Though their resting Metabolism is still many times slower than their active Metabolism, the difference is often not as significant as that seen in Brady metabolic creatures. Tachymetabolic creatures have more incredible difficulty dealing with a scarcity of food.

Regulating body temperature is energy involving process that requires a high amount of energy in the case of mammals. 

Source of Energy of Warm Blooded Animals:

Warm-blooded animals require a lot of energy to maintain a constant body temperature. Mammals and birds require much more food and energy than do cold-blooded animals of the same weight. This is because, in warm-blooded animals, the heat they lose is proportional to the surface area of their bodies, while the heat they produce is proportional to their mass. This means that larger warm-blooded animals can generate more heat than they lose and they can keep their body temperatures stable more easily. 

Smaller warm-blooded animals lose heat more quickly. So, it is easier to stay warm by being more extensive. This energy produced by warm-blooded animals mostly comes from food. Food represents stored chemical energy (potential energy), which is converted into other forms of energy within the body when the food is metabolized. Metabolism refers to all the chemical reactions in the body.

Are Humans Warm-Blooded?

Humans are warm-blooded, meaning we can regulate our internal body temperature regardless of the environment. To keep our body’s core temperature regulated at 37ºC, the process begins in the brain. The hypothalamus is responsible for releasing hormones to control temperature.

Receptors on the skin detect changes in temperature and pass the information onto the hypothalamus. Sweat glands and muscles are automatically triggered to ensure the body’s core temperature remains constant.

• if you’re too hot:

You will begin to sweat, which cools the skin as it evaporates.

The blood vessels under your skin will get more comprehensive, which helps increase blood flow to the skin, letting the body release heat through radiation.

• If you’re too cold:

The blood vessels under your skin will narrow; this decreases the blood flow to your skin and helps retain heat.

Your organs, muscles, and brain may produce heat in some ways, e.g. shivering.

Your thyroid may release hormones to increase Metabolism, increasing energy and heat in your body.

Conclusion:

We can conclude by saying that warm-blooded animals are the ones that can’t control or change their temperature accordingly, so to maintain equilibrium with the environment, they have adaptation measures. By now, we know what exactly is happening and how organisms are surviving, and in detail about warm-blooded animals, and how we humans are put into the category of warm-blooded.