The metobolic rate of elephants for example, is much lower than that of small animals like mice: Lower metobolic rate, to decrease internally produced body temperature.This isn't so much a heat adaptation, but an equatorial adaptation It's common knowledge that this applies to humans, but it also applies to dogs like the Xolo breed dog of Mexico, which actually tan like we do. You'll find many animals with dark noses and even tongues because of this melanin issue, even in hot environments.
MAD MAX THE FURNACE CAR BODY DESIGN ART SKIN
The production of melanin is used to block UV radiation, preventing skin cancers. The skin of the animal however is still very dark.
Light coloration can be used to reflect radiated energy instead of absorbing it and turning it into heat.Requires mostly exposed skin for this to work. Use externally wet methods of cooling off, ie sweat glands what humans do.Even plants attempt to cool off with this method, though it does appear like sweating, it is more so that holes inside leaves open, rather than water is excreted out.Many, if not most mammals, use this method of "Wet" cooling off in dry weather with their tongues, and the inside of their mouths.
Use internal openings, wet from internal moisture, to cool off.Lets compare the african and asian elephants. Elephants have this with their ears, but some elephants don't need this, so have smaller ears. Use extrusions of the skin to increase surface area, and use them to pump blood through to cool blood.Increase surface area of skin, via cracks, and folds (mentioned elsewhere) like an elephant.capable of storing, rapidly dispersing, or otherwise mitigating heat that's also capable of existing under Earth-like conditions and that is compatible with Earthly biochemistry.īiological methods to reduce internal body temperature: Good answers will will cite a biological structure/bodily feature/design adaptation/etc. Assume it's being built in a mad scientist's lab. Please note that I am referring to biological structures, not behavioral adaptations - "biological structures" in this sense include the brain, the blood cell, bones, and other such things, whereas "behavioral adaptations" are things such as "this animal is aggressive" or "this animal is nocturnal".Īdditionally, please note that I am not interested in determining what evolutionary pressures might lead to this. As such, please do not answer with a decrease in Bob's density, because Bob would rather not die, thank you very much. However, Bob's prey is very good at fighting back with a wide variety of lethal weapons, and so Bob needs to be as dense as water, on average, in order to contain enough mass and therefore enough bodily structures to fight well and withstand damage long enough to heal. As such, please do not answer with this.Ī common solution I've seen to this would be to make Bob less dense. Sometimes, Bob has to do these things for a long, long time, because his prey has a tendency to run him down over the course of day-long periods if they believe he's responsible for any deaths in the area as such, limiting activity to brief bursts is not an option. However, when Bob is running, fighting, or otherwise exerting himself, he can't dump heat quickly enough to stay alive. He might be warm to the touch, but he's doing fine in terms of body temperature. When at rest, or going for a stroll, Bob doesn't produce enough heat to overheat himself. Therefore, if Bob exerts himself for too long, Bob will overheat, and it won't be pretty. Specifically, big animals have issues dumping heat quickly, since they have more volume, and therefore, mass, relative to their surface area. The problem with this is, like with many such things, the square-cube law. Specifically: what are some biological structures that could help subvert the square-cube law's effects on animal overheating?īob is a really, really big land-based ambush predator that's normally sedentary but that puts on massive bursts of speed in order to catch his prey.