THERMOREGULATION
Asian elephants obtain a variety of thermoregulation mechanisms, one of which they utilize floppy ears that contain many blood vessels which allow them to cool themselves in hot climates. When the weather gets too hot elephants will flap their ears to reduce their body temperature by 10 degrees. The blood will flow into their ears and carry the heat out of the body. The cooled blood will then re-enter the bloodstream and reduce the heat for the elephant's body.
Elephants also have wrinkles on their skin that keeps the animal cool by allowing heat to have a larger surface area to disperse. They can also maintain moisture for a longer period of time compared to an animal with smooth skin. Their cracks between their skin allows water to seep and disperse throughout their skin. Elongating the process of evaporation will allow the animal to relieve up to 75 percent of the heat possessed. Another way that elephants conserve their temperatures is by throwing dirt, water, or mud on their bodies. This keeps their skin rejuvenated and provides shade from the beaming sun. They also undergo passive diffusion of water to the skin that can play a part in heat dissipation. The elephants don’t have an evaporative heat-loss method. Dog’s can undergo this method by panting and can be activated by thermal homeostasis however, the elephants don’t have this property. Indiana State University researches state that when Asian elephants are exposed in full sun that 56-100 percent of active metabolic heat production was stored in their core body tissues. They estimate that if the elephants choses to undergo nocturnal behavior that the absence of solar radiation estimates between 5 to 64 percent of the metabolic heat production. The elephants can potentially regulate their heat through nocturnal activities. |
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