Lecture 10: Thermoregulation Flashcards
What type of gland is a mammary gland?
Apocrine gland
Which type of sweat gland so humans have a high density of but other mammals do not?
Eccrine gland
Where on the body do humans have the highest density of eccrine glands?
Palms of hands and soles of feet
Eccrine glands typically function in response to which type of stress?
Thermal stress
Where do other mammals have eccrine glands?
In non-hairy/furred regions (like nose and paws)
Old world primates are similar to humans in eccrine gland number and distribution with a few key differences. What are these differences?
Eccrine glands are found in hairy skin
May not be heat sensitive
What is the relationship between having a lot of body hair/fur and sweating?
mammals with hairy/furry coats would not benefit from sweating all over their bodies since their coat prevents air circulation close to skin. Sweat can only cool via evaporation and that requires air flow. A mammal that relies on evaporative cooling must have a reduced amount of body hair/fur which provides an explanation for the relatively hairless/furless body of humans.
What are some behaviors used for cooling by mammals that cannot sweat?
Panting
Covering in mud
Avoid activity during hot periods of day
Some avoid long bouts of behaviors that could overheat their bodies
How is thermoregulation related to the human ability to maintain long periods of metabolically expensive activities?
Humans ability to efficiently cool the body through evaporative cooling by sweating over large areas of the body
What is the trade off for humans being able to sweat a lot all over the body?
Fluid loss must be replenished so humans need to drink a lot of water compared to other species and humans need to consume more energy and maintain a thinker layer of fat to make up for a lack of insulation through thick hair or fur
Humans naturally have nearly ____ times the amount of body fat that would be predicted by our species average body size, but human fat cells are relatively ________ compared to other mammals/.
10 times
Small
Where are fat cells numerous in the body and why are they located here for thermoregulation?
Hypodermis because this is where heat-carrying blood vessels tend to run
How are the levels of body fat related to reproductive success?
Sexual dimorphism in fat stores is related to reproduction and higher levels of body fat increase reproductive success
Why would relatively higher amounts of fat in humans evolved with respect to offspring?
It probably evolved to support infant development and large brain growth
What is piloerection?
Erection or raising of hairs via function of the arrector pili muscles
What is thought about the location of arrector pili muscles on the bodies of early primates? Do any current species retain this?
Thought that they lacked them over their bodies and only had them in the tail. Lemurs and lorises retain this.
A weak or vestigial MAP on the body and on tail is what type of condition for primates?
Ancestral
How did lemurs and lorises evolve regarding MAP?
Prominent tail MAP but none of their bodies