bio (1104) - MaB: temperature adaptations

today we talked about different animals living in different temperatures.

on earth, species can survive in temperatures as low as -50, all the way up to 250.

except, each individual species has a narrow bracket thing in which they can survive. eg, we humans can live in say 15 to around 30/40 without any major adaptations (eg clothes or aircon or whatnot)

we talked about endotherms like people, who produce their own heat, therefore must eat everyday. and ectotherms like crocs who acutally only eat like once a week O_O

so like.. its coz we regulate our temperature.

for animals that hibernate, what they do is in their sleep (which they only breathe like once per 5min, its really really hardcore sleep) what they do is they burn off their fat, and they have like a body clcok that wakes them up after winter.

adaptations for diff temps include ears, which are larger/longer in hot areas to lose more heat, like with kangaroos or dogs. likewise, arctic foxes have small ears.

marine mammals like whales can live in icy cold waters due to their layers of blubber keeping the heat that they produce from escaping. what happens with whales and dolphins in their blood, is they have countercurrents, which means their veins and arteries are like right next to each other, so the should-be cold used blood gets warmed up before it hits the heart again.