• Question: why are humans warm blooded?

    Asked by 852utec44 to Alison, Hannah, Jonny, MarthaNari, Paul on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Science_Girl.
    • Photo: Jonny Brooks-Bartlett

      Jonny Brooks-Bartlett answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I don’t really know why we are warm blooded but it’s probably best that we are. If we were cold blooded then we would have to wait until it was warm enough for us to have enough energy to do anything. We would probably have to lay in the sun and stay there to get all of our energy………..Actually if you like getting a sun tan then may be you wouldn’t mind be cold blooded 😛

      But being warm blooded means that our bodies do the job of making sure we stay the right temperature inside our body, no matter what the weather is outside. This means we can survive and do the same things in the winter and the summer

    • Photo: Paul Brack

      Paul Brack answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Some people think that warm-bloodedness developed to stop us getting fungal infections. The fungi can’t survive in the warm temperatures of our blood, whereas lizards, with cold blood, get them all the time.

    • Photo: Martha Havenith

      Martha Havenith answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      I’m also guessing that it would be a huge evolutionary advantage to be able to migrate to all the colder bits of the planet (and to move during night time) – all the places and times that cold-blooded animals wouldn’t be able to function in. So the first warm-blooded animals (that humans eventually evolved from) would probably have quite a bit of planet and a good few hours each day all to themselves… that’s just a wild stab in the dark though.

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