🐆 Warm Blooded Vs Cold Blooded 🐊

Morning Warm Bloods!

If you are one of these things, you're probably warm blooded:

This includes almost all mammals and birds.

But pretty much EVERYTHING else is cold blooded.

Including fish, amphibians, reptiles and most invertebrates.

But what exactly does it mean to be cold blooded or warm blooded?

And… which is better?

So, warm-blooded animals (aka endothermic animals) have a neat ability to make their own body heat. The only catch? It requires energy. Energy in the form of food.

Whereas cold blooded animals (aka ectothermic animals) have to rely on some other method of getting heat.

So, basically, they just sit in the sun to heat up.

Then if they get too hot, they move to a cooler area.

The thing is, staying warm by making your own heat takes a TON of energy.

Mammals and birds have to maintain a temperature of about 100 degrees Fahrenheit to survive, meaning they have to spend all day stuffing their face.

Pandas literally have to spend almost all day chomping down on bamboo just to give them enough energy to heat themselves.

Whereas some cold-blooded creatures like pythons can go AGES without any food at all.

And if it gets too cold?

Many cold-blooded creatures just go find a safe hiding spot and slow down their body functions for an extended period. Kinda like a mini hibernation.

So, what's the catch?

Well, cold-blooded animals do actually have quite a few disadvantages.

For instance:

Colder muscles react a lot slower than warm muscles, so cold-blooded animals basically can’t do anything when it’s cold.

Meaning they have to move all slow and sluggish, they have no choice, even if a predator is right behind them.

But what about warm blooded animals?

Warm-blooded animals have a couple major advantages over cold-blooders.

See, because mammals and birds don't have to rely on the sun to be out for their energy, it allows them to be active all year round, even in cold climates.

And that's the other thing: warm-blooded animals can live anywhere on earth, even in the cold places that would be unbearable for cold-blooded creatures.

The other major advantage is that cooler muscles simply can't move as fast. All that heat keeps our muscles ready for action.

So, warm blooded animals can almost always outrun cold blooded animals.