Apologies if this has already been asked before, but it struck me today that I don’t know the answer to this and I couldn’t find it after trying to look it up.
Could anybody explain why warm-blooded animals, like humans, need to stay warm to survive? It looks like death by hypothermia is caused by the body desperately trying to maintain core temperature, but why is that so important in the first place? It’s not like you’re at risk of your blood freezing in your veins, so I’m puzzled. I’d be super grateful if anybody could explain why maintaining body temperature is so critical!
In: Biology
Warm-blooded living organisms (more correctly called endothermal) have evolved to have very fast metabolism that allows for incredible features compared to ectothermal (“cold-blooded”) beings, such as being able to be fully active at any time and perform tiring efforts, like running, for prolonged times.
All of this is possible because chemical reactions producing energy, in the form of ATP molecules, happen very fast in these organisms, but this is only possible if enzymes work at the optimal temperature, which lies around 35-40°C. So these animals must keep their temperature constant in order to sustain their living functions.
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