Is It Cool To Be A Warm Blooded Animal?

It seems that nature does not care about fairness.

Somewhere during the evolution of life, birds and mammals gained an important edge over fish and reptiles by becoming warm-blooded. They could now generate their own body heat and did not have to rely on the warmth from the sun.

With this ability, warm-blooded animals could live in almost any surface environment on Earth.

However, being warm blooded comes with certain costs. They require more food and energy to produce their internal body heat, which puts them at a disadvantage in environments where food is scarce. Smaller warm blooded animals have it even worse – they lose heat quicker than what they can produce and therefore need to eat more often.

Warm blooded animals are also more prone to infection because the warm body temperature provides a nice environment for bacteria and parasites.

Turns out Mother Nature, does have a few ways to make things fair, after all.

Reference:

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-warm-blooded-animals-vs-cold-blooded-animals

http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html

http://www.orilliapacket.com/2012/10/12/turtles-are-cold-blooded-but-theyre-not-cold

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3c6kdu/do_coldblooded_things_live_longer_on_average_than/

https://prezi.com/t7bjlyckoqwo/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-warm-and-cold-blooded-animal/

https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/49142/why-arent-all-animals-cold-blooded/49160