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Amphibians are ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates that do not maintain their body temperature through internal physiological processes. Their metabolic rate is low and as a result, their food and energy requirements are limited. In the adult state, they have tear ducts and movable eyelids, and most species have ears that can detect airborne ...
Warm-blooded is a term referring to animal species whose bodies maintain a temperature higher than that of their environment. In particular, homeothermic species (including birds and mammals ) maintain a stable body temperature by regulating metabolic processes.
An ectotherm (from the Greek ἐκτός (ektós) "outside" and θερμός (thermós) "heat"), more commonly referred to as a "cold-blooded animal", [1] is an animal in which internal physiological sources of heat, such as blood, are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature. [2]
Cold-blooded is an informal term for one or more of a group of characteristics that determine an animal's thermophysiology. These include: Ectothermy, controlling body temperature through external processes, such as by basking in the sun; Poikilothermy, the ability of an organism to function over a wide internal temperature range
Warm-blooded animals could have gained an advantage by creating an inhospitable environment for many disease-causing organisms, thus reducing the risk of infections. Insulation and Thermoregulation : Homeothermy could have originated as a response to the development of insulating structures like fur, feathers, or other coverings.
Dinosaurs were initially cold-blooded, but global warming 180 million years ago may have triggered the evolution of warm-blooded species, a new study found.
Small warm-blooded animals have insulation in the form of fur or feathers. Aquatic warm-blooded animals, such as seals, generally have deep layers of blubber under the skin and any pelage (fur) that they might have; both contribute to their insulation. Penguins have both feathers and blubber. Penguin feathers are scale-like and serve both for ...
The optimum body temperature range varies with species, but is typically below that of warm-blooded animals; for many lizards, it falls in the 24–35 °C (75–95 °F) range, [74] while extreme heat-adapted species, like the American desert iguana Dipsosaurus dorsalis, can have optimal physiological temperatures in the mammalian range, between ...