It's cold outside. How do you stay warm?

Today we had a question come up about how animals have to deal with cold temperatures outside. How animals stay warm is actually pretty complicated. I'm going to explain the difference between a couple of ways that animals stay warm and then I'm going to see if you can match animals to their strategy.

Warm-blooded animals maintain or keep their body temperature around a certain temperature by making their own body heat. Think about yourself, what does your body do when you get cold? Did you say "shiver"?  Shivering muscles produce heat. What do dogs do when they get overheated? They start panting to cool their body off!

Cold-blooded animals use the environment around them to maintain their body temperature. When a reptile, like a crocodile, needs to warm up, they don't shiver. Instead, they head to some sunshine to bask and warm their bodies up. Then they are ready to go be active. If they get over heated, then they have to do something to cool off, like find some shade.

Scientists use other terms to describe how an organism or animal maintains their body temperature. These terms are a little more complicated because sometimes cold blooded animals can have surprisingly high body temperatures. For example, imagine a snake that is sitting on a rock in the sun on a warm day. I bet that snake is going to be pretty "warm-blooded" or have a higher body temperature. Scientists will use the term ectotherms for animals who can't maintain their own body temperature like fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians. Endotherms are animals that maintain their own body temperature, like birds and mammals. I remember the meaning of endotherms because they produce heat or cool down in (en) side their own body.

Use whichever term that you like, but just remember that just because an organism is cold-blooded, doesn't mean that it is always cold.

Think about where you expect warm-blooded (endotherms) and cold-blooded (ectotherms) to live.  Do you think there are many cold-blooded animals in the Arctic? Why or why not?

What would be good about being warm-blooded or cold-blooded? Give me some answers in the comment section below!

Now, for the real fun. These are some of the pets that I have around my house. You let me know if whether I have a warm-blooded (endotherm) or cold-blooded (ectotherm) pet. Put your answers in the comments.

A - Caterpillar

B - Butterfly

C - Dog (Tattoo)

D - Chicken (Dumpling)

E - Cat (Miss Piggy)

To learn more about warm and cold blooded animals, check out the links below. One of them even has infrared pictures that let you "see" an animal's body heat.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/classification/kc_classification_blood.htm

http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html

Little Brown Bat: Animal Guide Example

 

Animal Trails – Tell Us About Your Animal!

By Ms. Gibb

Which animal did you pick?

Common Name - Little Brown Bat

Scientific Name - Myotis lucifugus

Circle one – MAMMAL – BIRD – REPTILE – AMPHIBIAN – FISHY

What does this animal look like?

The little brown bat is really little. Little brown bats are 3-3 3/4 in. long and weight only ¼ ounce. Their fur is a dark brown color, but their wings are covered by a glossy brown skin. Their ears are also a glossy brown.  There are several species of brown bat in Missouri and you have to look close to tell them apart.

Where can you find this animal? What is its habitat?

When little brown bats are out and flying, they like the edge between open areas (good for flying) and denser areas (good for insects). When winter comes, the bats head for caves and mines in the Ozarks.  The males and females spend the rest of the year roosting apart. They can be found in any protected crack or cranny, from rock walls and trees to attics or shingles of a house!   

What does this animal eat?

Flying insects, they will eat up to half their weight in insects, which makes them good to have around. That is a lot of mosquitos!

What predators does your animal have to avoid?

The little brown bat has many predators. Owls, snakes, bullfrogs, mink, raccoon and rodents, just to name a few.

About how long does your animal live in the wild?

They can live up to 34 years, but very few do.

What things could your animal leave behind for a hiker to find? (Tracks, nest, scat, etc.)

Bats leave behind guano, which is the term used for their scat.  The guano brings nutrients from the outside into caves. Humans even use it as fertilizer!

I got my information from the Missouri Department of Conservation website and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry website

Science Cat

I would like to introduce everybody to my new cat, Miss Piggy.

 

   Miss Piggy is an Oriental Shorthair. If you click on this link, you can watch a video about the breed. She is 5 years old and weighs 14lbs. If you notice, she also has a shaved area on her back, but that will grow back in time.  We had talked about Miss Piggy in class and I know you were excited to meet her because she is a science cat. She lived in a research lab. The research lab used her in a breeding colony for studies about genetics. She has a coat color that they are interested in; she has a silver coat. Researchers want to know which genes make certain coat colors. Do you have any questions about Miss Piggy?