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Gigantothermy (sometimes called ectothermic homeothermy or inertial homeothermy) is a phenomenon with significance in biology and paleontology, whereby large, bulky ectothermic animals are more easily able to maintain a constant, relatively high body temperature than smaller animals by virtue of their smaller surface-area-to-volume ratio. [1]
Heat loss is a major threat to smaller creatures, as they have a larger ratio of surface area to volume. 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 ...
All organisms metabolize food and other inputs, but some make better use of the output than others. Like all energy conversions, metabolism is rather inefficient, and around 60% of the available energy is converted to heat rather than to ATP. [7] In most organisms, this heat dissipates into the surroundings.
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.
The first is shivering, in which a warm-blooded creature produces involuntary contraction of skeletal muscle in order to produce heat. [26] In addition, shivering also signals the body to produce irisin , a hormone that has been shown to convert white fat to brown fat , which is used in non-shivering thermogenesis, the second type of human ...
This usually occurs in the limbs, and is made possible through the use of counter-current heat exchangers, such as the rete mirabile found in tuna and certain birds. [4] These exchangers equalize the temperature between hot arterial blood going out to the extremities and cold venous blood coming back, thus reducing heat loss.
Image credits: Flarecircle #8. I was delivering a pizza and after I knocked on the door I heard a far away voice yell "coming!", so I waited. After about a minute I hear the same voice a little ...
A 2022 study on the effect of heat on young people found that the critical wet-bulb temperature at which heat stress can no longer be compensated, T wb,crit, in young, healthy adults performing tasks at modest metabolic rates mimicking basic activities of daily life was much lower than the 35°C usually assumed, at about 30.55°C in 36–40°C ...