Every animal is a living radiator-heat formed in its cells is given off through its skin. Warm-blooded animals maintain a steady temperature by constantly replacing lost surface heat; maintain a steady temperature by constantly replacing lost surface heat; small animals , which have more skin for every ounce of body weight , must produce heat faster than bigger ones. Because smaller animals burn fuel faster, scientists say they live faster.
The speed at which an animal lives is determined by measuring the rate at which it uses oxygen. A chicken , fot example., uses one half cubic centimeter of oxygen every hour for each gram it weighs. The tiny shrew uses four cubic centimeters of oxygen every hour for each gram it weighs. Because it uses oxygen eight times as fast, it is said that the mouselike shrew is living eight times as fast as the chicken. The smallest of the warm-blooded creatures, the humming bird(蜂鸟), lives a hundred times as fast as an elephant.
There is a limit to how small a warm-blooded animal can be, A mammal (噗乳动物) or bird that weighted only two and a half grams would starve to death. It would burn up its food too rapidly and would not be able to eat fast enough to supply more fue