Gigantothermy is a phenomenon with significance in biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and paleontology

Paleontology

Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

, whereby large, bulky ectotherm

Ectotherm

An ectotherm, from the Greek εκτός "outside" and θερμός "hot", refers to organisms that control body temperature through external means. As a result, organisms are dependent on environmental heat sources and have relatively low metabolic rates. For example, many reptiles regulate their body...

ic animals are more easily able to maintain a constant, relatively high body temperature than smaller animals by virtue of their smaller surface area to volume ratio. A bigger animal has proportionately less of its body close to the outside environment than a smaller animal of otherwise similar shape, and so it gains heat from, or loses heat to, the environment much more slowly.

The phenomenon is important in the biology of ectothermic megafauna

Megafauna

In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...

, such as large turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

s (particularly the leatherback sea turtle), and aquatic reptiles like ichthyosaur

Ichthyosaur

Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...

s and mosasaur

Mosasaur

Mosasaurs are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764...

s. It is also present in certain large fish, most notably the great white shark

Great white shark

The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...

. Gigantotherms, though almost always ectothermic, generally have a body temperature similar to that of endotherm

Endotherm

An endotherm is an organism that produces heat through internal means, such as muscle shivering or increasing its metabolism...

s. It has been suggested that the larger dinosaurs would have been gigantothermic, rendering them virtually homeotherm.

External links

• Gigantothermy at Davidson
  Davidson
  Davidson is the name of:* Davidson * Davidson Media Group* Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA* Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA...