Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An organism that depends on external sources for its body heat.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology a
cold-blooded animal whichregulates itsbody temperature byexchanging heat with itssurroundings
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an animal whose body temperature varies with the temperature of its surroundings; any animal except birds and mammals
Etymologies
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Examples
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That's why several zoos are participating in a sort of sperm bank for snot otters, says Dale McGinnity, ectotherm curator for the Nashville Zoo.
Green Movement's New Mascot: the Slimy Snot Otter Leslie Eaton 2011
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Whereas an endotherm expends a tremendous amount of energy just to maintain a constant body temperature, a cold ectotherm can pass months at a time requiring little food or oxygen.
Amphibian 2008
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Endotherms differ from an ectotherm because they typically have core temperatures above that of the surrounding environment, whereas the core temperatures of ectotherms depend on external sources of heat – primarily from solar radiation.
Endotherm 2008
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Turtle • Endotherm / ectotherm - Migration to northern water • Problems - Stagnant ocean -
bilby commented on the word ectotherm
"Commonly known as being cold-blooded and in need of sunshine, the world's fish and reptiles may be struggling to keep cool in the future. The finding raises concerns about how ectotherms - animals that regulate their body heat using air temperature - will cope in a warmer world predicted by climate change. Writing in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of Australian and US researchers say the impact of climate change on ectotherms will depend on how global warming-induced changes in habitat alter the ability to access shade."
- Dani Cooper, Cold comfort for reptiles in warmer world
February 19, 2009