Whereas an organism that thermoregulates is one that keeps its temperature constant and adapts to the temperature of the environment, a thermoconformer changes its body temperature according to the temperature outside of its body.
It was not until the introduction of thermometers that any exact data on the temperature of animals could be obtained. It was then found that local differences were present, since heat production and heat loss vary considerably in different parts of the body, although the circulation of the Blood tends to bring about a mean temperature of the internal parts. Hence it is important to determine the temperature of those parts which most nearly approaches to that of the internal organs. Also for such results to be comparable they must be made in the same situation. The Rectum gives most accurately the temperature of internal parts, or in women and some animals the Vagina, Uterus or Bladder.
Occasionally that of the Urine as it leaves the Urethra may be of use. More usually the temperature is taken in the Mouth, axilla or Groin.
Even though fishes are ectotherms some have developed the ability to remain functional even when the water temperature is below freezing and some even use natural antifreeze to resist ice crystal formation in their tissues; amphibians (also ectotherms) must cope with the loss of heat through their moist skins by evaporative cooling; reptiles, like amphibians must warm their bodies by behavioral adaptations; the stratum corneum they possess limits heat loss by evaporative cooling.
Birds avoid overheating by panting since, unlike the mammals, their thin skin has no sweat glands. Down feathers trap warm air acting as excellent insulators (sometimes used by humans). Hair in mammals also acts as a good insulator; mammalian skin is much thicker than that of birds and often has a continuous layer of insulating fat beneath the dermis - in marine mammals like whales this is referred to as blubber.
Some animals living in cold environment maintain their body temperature by preventing heat loss. Their fur grows more dense to increase the Insulation. Some arctic animals are able to allow their less insulated extremities to cool to temperatures much lower than their core temperature -- nearly to 0 °C. This minimizes heat loss through less insulated body parts, like the legs, feet (or hooves), and nose.
Estivation occurs in summer (like siestas) and allows some mammals to survive periods of high temperature and little water (e.g. turtles burrow in pond mud).
Daily torpor occurs in small endotherms like bats and humming birds which temporarily reduce their high metabolic rates to conserve energy.
As stated above, the temperature of warm-blooded animals is maintained with but slight variation. In health under normal conditions the temperature of man varies between 36 °C and 38 °C, or if the thermometer be placed in the axilla, between 36.25 °C and 37.5 °C In the mouth the reading would be from 0.25 °C to 1.5 °C higher than this; and in the rectum some 0.9 °C higher still. The temperature of infants and young children has a much greater range than this, and is susceptible of wide divergencies from comparatively slight causes.
Of the lower warm-blooded animals, there are some that appear to be cold-blooded at birth. Kittens, rabbits and puppies, if removed from their surroundings shortly after birth, lose their body heat until their temperature has fallen to within a few degrees of that of the surrounding air. But such animals are at birth blind, helpless and in some cases naked. Animals who are born when in a condition of greater development can maintain their temperature fairly constant. In strong, healthy infants a day or two old the temperature rises slightly, but in that of weakly, ill-developed children it either remains stationary or falls. The cause of the variable temperature in infants and young immature animals is the imperfect development of the nervous regulating mechanism.
The average temperature falls slightly from infancy to Puberty and again from puberty to middle age, but after that stage is passed the temperature begins to rise again, and by about the eightieth year is as high as in infancy. A diurnal variation has been observed dependent on the periods of rest and activity, the maximum ranging from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the minimum from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Sutherland Simpson and J.J. Galbraith have recently done much work on this subject. In their first experiments they showed that in a Monkey there is a well-marked and regular diurnal variation of the body temperature, and that by reversing the daily routine this diurnal variation is also reversed. The diurnal temperature curve follows the periods of rest and activity, and is not dependent on the incidence of day and Night; in monkeys which are active during the night and resting during the day, the body temperature is highest at night and lowest through the day. They then made observations on the temperature of animals and birds of nocturnal habit, where the periods of rest and activity are naturally the reverse of the ordinary through habit and not from outside interference. They found that in nocturnal birds the temperature is highest during the natural period of activity (night) and lowest during the period of rest (day), but that the mean temperature is lower and the range less than in diurnal birds of the same size. That the temperature curve of diurnal birds is essentially similar to that of man and other homoiothermal animals, except that the maximum occurs earlier in the afternoon and the minimum earlier in the morning. Also that the curves obtained from rabbit, Guinea pig and dog were quite similar to those from man. The mean temperature of the female was higher than that of the male in all the species examined whose sex had been determined.
Meals sometimes cause a slight elevation, sometimes a slight depression-alcohol seems always to produce a fall. Exercise and variations of external temperature within ordinary limits cause very slight change, as there are many compensating influences at work, which are discussed later. Even from very active exercise the temperature does not rise more than one degree, and if carried to exhaustion a fall is observed. In travelling from very cold to very hot regions a variation of less than one degree occurs, and the temperature of those living in the tropics is practically identical with those dwelling in the Arctic regions.
In some experiments on cats performed by Sutherland Simpson and Percy T. Herring, they found them unable to survive when the rectal temperature was reduced below 16 °C. At this low temperature respiration became increasingly feeble, the heart-impulse usually continued after respiration had ceased, the beats becoming very irregular, apparently ceasing, then beginning again. Death appeared to be mainly due to asphyxia, and the only certain sign that it had taken place was the loss of knee jerks.
On the other hand, too high a temperature hurries on the metabolism of the various tissues at such a rate that their capital is soon exhausted. Blood that is too warm produces dyspnoea and soon exhausts the metabolic capital of the respiratory centre. The rate of the heart is quickened, the beats then become irregular and finally cease. The central nervous system is also profoundly affected, consciousness may be lost, and the patient falls into a comatose condition, or delirium and convulsions may set in. All these changes can be watched in any patient suffering from an acute fever. The lower limit of temperature that man can endure depends on many things, but no one can survive a temperature of 45 °C (113 °F) or above for very long. Mammalian muscle becomes rigid with heat rigor at about 50° C., and obviously should this temperature be reached the sudden rigidity of the whole body would render life impossible.
H.M. Vernon has done work on the death temperature and paralysis temperature (temperature of heat rigor) of various animals. He found that animals of the same class of the animal kingdom showed very similar temperature values, those from the Amphibia examined being 38.5 °C, Fishes 39 °C, Reptilia 45 °C, and various Molluscs 46 °C. Also in the case of Pelagic animals he showed a relation between death temperature and the quantity of solid constituents of the body, Cestus having lowest death temperature and least amount of solids in its body. But in the higher animals his experiments tend to show that there is greater variation in both the chemical and physical characters of the Protoplasm, and hence greater variation in the extreme temperature compatible with life.