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Many endotherms have a larger amount of mitochondria per cell than ectotherms. This enables them to generate heat by increasing the rate at which they metabolize fats and sugars . Accordingly, to sustain their higher metabolism, endothermic animals typically require several times as much food as ectothermic animals do, and usually require a ...
A significant proportion of creatures commonly referred to as "warm-blooded," like birds and mammals, exhibit all three of these categories (i.e., they are endothermic, homeothermic, and tachymetabolic). However, over the past three decades, investigations in the field of animal thermophysiology have unveiled numerous species within these two ...
A eurytherm is an organism, often an endotherm, that can function at a wide range of ambient temperatures. [1] To be considered a eurytherm, all stages of an organism's life cycle must be considered, including juvenile and larval stages. [2]
Bergmann's rule is most often applied to mammals and birds which are endotherms, but some researchers have also found evidence for the rule in studies of ectothermic species, [2] [3] such as the ant Leptothorax acervorum. While Bergmann's rule appears to hold true for many mammals and birds, there are exceptions. [4] [5] [6]
Birds have a number of adaptations which give visual acuity superior to that of other vertebrate groups; a pigeon has been described as "two eyes with wings". [1] Birds are theropods, [2] [3] and the avian eye resembles that of other sauropsids, with ciliary muscles that can change the shape of the lens rapidly and to a greater extent than in ...
Birds are tetrachromatic, possessing ultraviolet (UV) sensitive cone cells in the eye as well as green, red and blue ones. [116] They also have double cones, likely to mediate achromatic vision. [117] The nictitating membrane as it covers the eye of a masked lapwing
The dichotomy between income and capital breeders was introduced in 1980 by R. H. Drent and S. Daan [6] to explain why birds usually laid their eggs later than the time that would maximize nestling survival for the population. [1] Ectotherms are generally capital breeders, whereas endotherms rely on income breeding more often. This difference ...
Infrared sensing snakes use pit organs extensively to detect and target warm-blooded prey such as rodents and birds. Blind or blindfolded rattlesnakes can strike prey accurately in the complete absence of visible light, [ 13 ] [ 14 ] though it does not appear that they assess prey animals based on their body temperature. [ 15 ]