Cellular Respiration Gerbil Metabolism - Science Learning Center

• The heat is retained in part because of anatomical adaptations
that reduce heat loss across the body surface. Some heat
conserving adaptations include the evolution of fur, hair, feathers,
and the deposition of fat near the body’s surface. These
anatomical adaptations, along with a temperature detecting and
regulation “thermostat” in the hypothalamus of the brain, enable
certain animals to maintain a constant body temperature. Such
animals are called homeotherm or endotherm these are birds,
mammals, and the tuna fish species. All of the other animals are
poiklotherms or ectotherm they are unable to maintain a constant
internal body temperature. They cannot retain the heat that they
produce, and their body temperature will fluctuate as the
environmental temperature fluctuates.
• Hemeothermic animals will regulate their product of heat
(generate more when it is cold and less when it is hot) to maintain
a constant body temperature despite fluctuations in the
environmental temperature. Since the heat is produced from the
chemical reactions of cellular respiration, the rate of cellular
respiration is tried, in part, to thermoregulation (regulation of
body temperature).