Talk:Cold-blooded
|
|
This really should be under Ectotherm instead of Cold Blooded, since Cold-Blooded is archaic and not technically correct. Woofles 01:30, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)
- Does cold-blooded technically refer to poikilothermic rather than ectothermic? The subtle etymological difference being that the former refers to a variable body temperature and the latter to an organism dependant on external sources of heat. I suppose if it is a new title, this is academic, but perhaps for historical reasons? If anyone changes this, also have a look at warm-blooded, which similarly I would propose as homeothermic rather than endothermic --postglock 08:49, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Cold-blooded etymology
Cold-blooded is such a blanket term, that it encompasses poikilothermy, ectothermy and bradymetabolism. Theoretically, it would best fit creatures that fall between all three categories. This would still exclude a lot of creatures who are often referred to as "cold-blooded." Further frustration results from the erroneous belief that cold-blooded creatures are actually incapable of maintaining and controlling their body temperatures. The end result is that a cold-blooded animal, is an animal that doesn't actually exist. Hence one of the main reasons why it is in such disfavour.
With that said, poikilothermy is no more correct than ectothermy, for thermophysiological classification. Bradymetabolic is probably the most useful term, as it is the most common feature seen in creatures normally called "cold-blooded." Still there are even exceptions to this (e.g. caterpillars are poikilothermic and ectothermic, but tachymetabolic).