I watched the birds in our garden and was wondering if they feel cold being outside all day. Then I wondered about polar bears and sperm whales too, we always say “their feathers/fur/fat keeps them warm”, but let’s say they didn’t have these factors: Would they feel the same sensation of “cold” like we do or would they not even notice it, does their skin have less sensitive temperature receptors for example?
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Any warm-blooded animal will “feel” cold when its body temperature drops to a dangerous level. But animals have adapted to their surroundings. What does a sperm whale do if he gets cold? Probaly swim to warmer waters. They have a thick skin, lots of insulation. What would a polar bear do? Use the sun to get warmer. They even have black skin under their fur to absorb as much sunlight as possible. Their fur is adapted to allow light to pass through, mostly infrared I would assume.
Humans wear clothing, animals have the “clothing” that nature provides them with. In their natural habitat they will be fine.
edit: cold-blooded animals probably dont have this issue.
edit2: But they would still have to maintain a minimum temperature. They can freeze to death too. So I would expect that they can feel cold too. But it is probably not as dooming as when warm-blooded animal feels it.
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