Cold-blooded
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Cold-blooded is a layman's term generally used to describe animals such as reptiles, amphibians, and fish who control body temperature by external means. A more accurate description for these creatures is that they are ectotherms.
"Cold-blooded" can also be used as a term for an individual who is evil, a killer, or feels no remorse, sympathy, or regret. Furry fans who have cold-blooded fursona rarely use this term to describe it. The common terms are "scalie" and "herp".
Dinosaurs were thought cold-blooded clumsy reptiles for a long time, numerous findings in recent decades proved that they were active animals, many of whom greatly resembled birds in appearance, anatomy and behavior. But the stereotypical "thundering lizard" dinosaur is still a trope of popular culture.
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[edit] Mechanism
Animals that do not use their metabolism to regulate body temperature are considered cold-blooded. Most cold-blooded animals must bask to generate and absorb heat. This is evident by lizards and snakes, which often lay on rocks to absorb heat from the sun. When a cold-blooded creature has absorbed heat, it is more active. As the temperature in it's body drops however, it becomes sluggish and less energetic. Since their bodies cannot regulate heat, cold-blooded creatures must switch between heat and cool, to either warm up or cool down. An example being a basking lizard switching from sun to shade.
Warm-blooded creatures do not have to constantly absorb heat. Once heat has been absorbed by a warm-blooded creature, the creature's metabolism works to retain the heat. A warm-blooded creature's temperature stays roughly the same, unless confronted with a drastic change in temperature. Warm-blooded creatures can adjust body heat to necessary requirements, while cold-blooded creatures must constantly switch back and forth between hot and cold.
The bigger the creature is, the easier for it to maintain accumulated body heat, so crocodiles can stay active for longer periods without basking.
[edit] Advantages and disadvantages
Being cold-blooded has its advantages. Cold-blooded animals require much less energy to survive than warm-blooded animals do. Mammals and birds require much more food and energy than do cold-blooded animals of the same weight. Since cold-blooded animals do not have to burn a lot of food to maintain a constant body temperature, they are more energy efficient and can survive longer periods without food. Many cold-blooded animals will try to keep their body temperatures as low as possible when food is scarce.
High body temperature protects body from fungi to which cold-blooded animals are vulnerable, but creates suitable environment for viruses, bacteria and parasites to live in. A reptile's immune system is more efficient when the animals is warmer, however, since bacteria probably grow more slowly in lower temperatures, reptiles sometimes lower their body temperatures when they have an infection.[1]
[edit] In popular culture
Characters and races that are stereotyped by their cold-blooded animal prototype are depicted slow, sluggish, more primitive than "evolved" warm-blooded species, especially humans. Since warm-bloodedness of dinosaurs was proven only recently, this is often the case for dino-derived characters. Snakemen and lizardmen also often fall in this category.
One example is Alexey Baron's "Humans and Lizards" novel about human colonization of lizardmen-inhabited planet. Humans lost all their technology and returned to Medieval age, while lizardmen are a tribal civilization. Lizardmen's lands are limited by a cold mountain range. They can cross it only by means of bonfires: by setting them in a chain and forming a warm path. The most heroic deed among lizardmen is bringing a gift of Edelweiss, a mountain flower, since getting it requires both courage and strength. By the law, a single flower can stop any war for a day.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Ectotherm in Wikipedia
- A Question of Cold-Bloodedness