""Cold-blooded" animals maintain their body temperatures in ways different from mammals and birds. The term is now outdated in scientific contexts. Cold-blooded creatures were, initially, presumed to be incapable of maintaining their body temperatures at all.
Cold-bloodedness generally refers to three separate areas of thermoregulation.
1. Ectothermy - This refers to creatures that control body temperature through external means (Greek: "ectos"εκτος = "outside," "thermos" θερμος = "warm"), such as the sun, or flowing air/water. For more on this, see below.
2. Poikilothermy - This refers to creatures whose internal temperatures vary, often matching the ambient temperature of the immediate environment (Greek: "poikilos" ποικιλος = "varied," therm = "warm").
3. Bradymetabolism - This term refers to creatures with a high active metabolism and a considerably slower resting metabolism (Greek: "brady" βρΑδυ = "slow," "metabolia" μεταβολια = "to change"). Bradymetabolic animals can often undergo dramatic changes in metabolic speed, according to food availability and temperature. Many bradymetabolic creatures in deserts and in areas that experience extreme winters are capable of "shutting down" their metabolisms to approach near-death states, until favourable conditions return (see hibernation and estivation).
Few creatures actually fit all three of the above criteria. Most animals use a combination of these three aspects of thermophysiology, along with their counterparts (endothermy, homeothermy & tachymetabolism) to create a broad spectrum of body temperature types. Most of the time, creatures that use any one of the previously defined aspects are usually pigeon-holed into the term cold-blooded."
So as it turns out, we have the shittiest, most outdated heating system in the world. It's loud, it's slow, it's expensive, it doesn't even really keep the house warm at all, and we have to get it refilled with oil fairly often. But none of this was really all that annoying for the most part...until the other day.
I don't think you really have to be a detective to figure out how the two items above link together, but for the sake of fairness allow me to blugeon you over the head with my point:
My Iguana died.
As it turns out we had to have our oil refilled again, after only having filled it, like, 12 days ago. It seems that was the norm with the previous owners of this house, something our landlord, and the landlord's son, our roommate, neglected to mention upon signing the lease. At any rate we were without heat for a night, and it was pretty cold out, and though I researched reptile heaters for a good 3-4 hours, and took 2 buses and a subway to go get the exact one I needed, it wasn't enough to beat ambient air temperatures of like 10 degrees. All that time spent reading books and websites, playing with him, training him, buying top of the line reptile habitats, going from store to store to find the light that had the exact balance of UVA to UVB radiation recommended, only to have the little guy die from something that was almost completely out of my control.
I know there might be someone reading this saying, what's the big deal? It's just a stupid lizard. Well I say to you, go out and befriend something that isn't human and see how you react upon his or her death.
I'll miss you, Jrmungandr. I know you're eating leaves of ambrosia in Iguana Vahalla now
Cold-bloodedness generally refers to three separate areas of thermoregulation.
1. Ectothermy - This refers to creatures that control body temperature through external means (Greek: "ectos"εκτος = "outside," "thermos" θερμος = "warm"), such as the sun, or flowing air/water. For more on this, see below.
2. Poikilothermy - This refers to creatures whose internal temperatures vary, often matching the ambient temperature of the immediate environment (Greek: "poikilos" ποικιλος = "varied," therm = "warm").
3. Bradymetabolism - This term refers to creatures with a high active metabolism and a considerably slower resting metabolism (Greek: "brady" βρΑδυ = "slow," "metabolia" μεταβολια = "to change"). Bradymetabolic animals can often undergo dramatic changes in metabolic speed, according to food availability and temperature. Many bradymetabolic creatures in deserts and in areas that experience extreme winters are capable of "shutting down" their metabolisms to approach near-death states, until favourable conditions return (see hibernation and estivation).
Few creatures actually fit all three of the above criteria. Most animals use a combination of these three aspects of thermophysiology, along with their counterparts (endothermy, homeothermy & tachymetabolism) to create a broad spectrum of body temperature types. Most of the time, creatures that use any one of the previously defined aspects are usually pigeon-holed into the term cold-blooded."
So as it turns out, we have the shittiest, most outdated heating system in the world. It's loud, it's slow, it's expensive, it doesn't even really keep the house warm at all, and we have to get it refilled with oil fairly often. But none of this was really all that annoying for the most part...until the other day.
I don't think you really have to be a detective to figure out how the two items above link together, but for the sake of fairness allow me to blugeon you over the head with my point:
My Iguana died.
As it turns out we had to have our oil refilled again, after only having filled it, like, 12 days ago. It seems that was the norm with the previous owners of this house, something our landlord, and the landlord's son, our roommate, neglected to mention upon signing the lease. At any rate we were without heat for a night, and it was pretty cold out, and though I researched reptile heaters for a good 3-4 hours, and took 2 buses and a subway to go get the exact one I needed, it wasn't enough to beat ambient air temperatures of like 10 degrees. All that time spent reading books and websites, playing with him, training him, buying top of the line reptile habitats, going from store to store to find the light that had the exact balance of UVA to UVB radiation recommended, only to have the little guy die from something that was almost completely out of my control.
I know there might be someone reading this saying, what's the big deal? It's just a stupid lizard. Well I say to you, go out and befriend something that isn't human and see how you react upon his or her death.
I'll miss you, Jrmungandr. I know you're eating leaves of ambrosia in Iguana Vahalla now
thanks, sorry to hear about your Iguana.
one of my turtles died yesterday... i feel your pain