Do cold blooded animals do best in cold weather? or hotblooded?

[rody084]

i wasnt sure where to post this...
but I've been really curious about this since i am always the one that isn't cold...

I was wondering if the animals that live in cold weather are hotblooded or cold blooded... like penguins for example and if there really is a pattern.

also i was wondering what makes it that certain people feel cold more than others

 

[chroot]

Penguins are class Aves (birds), and are warm-blooded.

The deal is this: life depends on the action of enzymes, special proteins which catalyze chemical reactions. Many, if not all, enzymes are sensitive to temperature. If they are too hot or too cold, they either break down or stop functioning.

Warm-blooded animals produce their own body heat, so as to always keep their enzymes at the optimal temperature. Cold-blooded animals cannot do this. As the temperature falls, cold-blooded animals become disabled. They cannot move their muscles, or digest their food, or transport oxygen to their tissues. You can see evidence of this in your garden: when it's cold out, lizards and other cold-blooded reptiles are not nearly as fast or responsive as when it's warm.

In short, cold-blooded animals must live in warm climates; warm-blooded animals can more or less live anywhere.

- Warren

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by chroot
You can see evidence of this in your garden: when it's cold out, lizards and other cold-blooded reptiles are not nearly as fast or responsive as when it's warm.

Well said, but.. lizards in my garden? pfiew! I am glad to say no cold-blooded animals live in my garden

What makes it that certain people feel warm and others cold? It all depends on how much they are wearing, how much subcutaneous isolating fat they have. And besides that some people's metabolism is just faster so they burn more fuel and produce more heat :)

 

[Bystander]

Originally posted by chroot
(snip)In short, cold-blooded animals must live in warm climates; warm-blooded animals can more or less live anywhere.

Excepting certain fish --- trout, char, other salmonids, and other critters.

 

[chroot]

Originally posted by Monique Well said, but.. lizards in my garden? pfiew! I am glad to say no cold-blooded animals live in my garden

Dag, Monique. :)

You don't have lizards in your garden?? Here in the states we have them all over! They're so much fun.

- Warren

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Originally posted by chroot

In short, cold-blooded animals must live in warm climates; warm-blooded animals can more or less live anywhere.

Strangely enough the coldest locations on Earth are swarming with more cold blooded animals than warm blooded ones.

In the artic and antartic the most obviously visible animals might be seals, penguins and other warm blooded animals, but they all depend on cold blooded creatures to keep their warm blooded motors running. Krill (shrimps in the antartic) is one of the most numerous animals on this planet and they are cold blooded and live in a cold sea.
Underneath the ice there is a world filled with cold blooded animals. They easily outnumber the warm blooded ones, since the warm blooded ones need the cold blooded ones to sustain themselves.

Why are the cold blooded ones a succes? Because they do not waste energy like the warm blooded ones. They don't grow fast, but they are efficient. They don't waste energy heating themselves.

 

[FZ+]

Strangely enough the coldest locations on Earth are swarming with more cold blooded animals than warm blooded ones.

The locations are not swarming with cold blooded animals. They are swimming with cold blooded animals. In the water, the temperature cannot be lower than 0 centigrade. Hence, on the surface where it is really cold, there are almost no cold blooded organisms.

 

[rody084]

cool thanks all!

all of it makes sense... the enzymes... the metabolism... good to know that i have a good metabolism :)

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Originally posted by FZ+
The locations are not swarming with cold blooded animals. They are swimming with cold blooded animals. In the water, the temperature cannot be lower than 0 centigrade. Hence, on the surface where it is really cold, there are almost no cold blooded organisms.

those other cold places you mention are also not swarming with warmblooded animals, and they are still depended on the 'swimming' coldblooded ones nearby in the freezing ocean.

I would suggest that you try swimming in 0 centigrade water naked and then stand in 0 centigrade on land naked. You might notice that you die sooner in the cold water than on land. Much sooner. All cold places need adaptations. Cold water has certain characteristics that make it really 'cold', such as ease of heat transduction. On land there are other problems.

 

[Tsu]

Originally posted by chroot
Dag, Monique. :)

You don't have lizards in your garden?? Here in the states we have them all over! They're so much fun.

- Warren

So true! And they are very beneficial to your garden, eating some of the bugs that like to hold banquets on your plants! Their legless buddies (garter snakes) help to keep the rodent population down so they don't chew up the stalks of your plants and trees! GOOD little friends they ARE!

 

[NateTG]

Originally posted by Monique
Well said, but.. lizards in my garden? pfiew! I am glad to say no cold-blooded animals live in my garden

You're almost certain to have worms in the soil which are exothermic.

 

[Monique]

Exothermic worms? What is meant by that? I'm exothermic too.. Last time I checked exothermic meant 'producing heat'

 

[NateTG]

Originally posted by Monique
Exothermic worms? What is meant by that? I'm exothermic too.. Last time I checked exothermic meant 'producing heat'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exothermic

In biology, an exothermic or poikilothermic animal is one that requires external sources of heat (usually sunlight) to maintain its internal temperature: for example, reptiles.

Perhaps 'ectotherm' is preferred?

 

[chroot]

Originally posted by Monique
I'm exothermic too..

And your epidermis is showing!

- Warren