Animals with a Smaller Surface Area to Volume Ratio Sustain Core Body Temperature Better in Cooler Climates

Abstract

In this investigation we came up with an experiment to find out “Why animals are shaped differently in cooler climates than in warmer ones?” (French 2014) We suspected that the smaller surface area to volume ratio clay would loss heat slower. Previous work has tried to prove this but has failed because not enough information was given and most other work has just given predictions and not actual data to represent their findings. We started this experiment by making two different sized clay balls that represented a smaller surface area to volume ratio and a larger surface area to volume ratio. We placed the clay into ice for 15 minutes recording the core temperature and graphing the results we found. The slope of the graph proves our hypothesis by showing a slower rate of heat loss in the smaller SA/V ratio animal. In conclusion, we found out that larger animals live in cooler climates rather than in warmer ones because they retain heat which allows for thermoregulation.