Whats the difference between warm blooded and cold blooded animals?
Actually, the terms warm-blooded and cold-blooded are not strictly accurate. Under certain circumstances, a cold-blooded animal can have a higher body temperature than a warm-blooded one – for example, a snake that’s been basking in the sun may be hotter than a mammal. Better terms are endothermic and ectothermic. Endothermic animals, like mammals, maintain their body temperature internally – if too hot, they sweat or pant to cool down, and if too cold they shiver to warm up. About 70% of the energy they obtain from food goes towards this. By contrast, ectothermic animals, like reptiles, cannot regulate their body temperature internally – they rely on external factors to control it. If they need to warm up, they must bask in the sun, and if they need to cool down, they move into the shade or into water. Because of this, they need far less food than an endothermic animal of similar size – only about a twentieth of the amount the endotherm requires – and 70% of the energy they get from t
