I have recently noticed that the Human Race seems to have bifurcated.
There now appear to be two races: the Endothermic race (the one that has
existed for millions of years) and the Ectothermic race. The separation
may have existed for a long time, but I only recently noticed that the
two appear to be separate races. We all know that Humans are mammals,
and mammals are warm-blooded animals; that means that humans are
endothermic; they produce heat internally to maintain their bodies at a
roughly even temperature.
Being endothermic means that humans don’t need tremendous amounts of
covering to keep them comfortable, and they can easily tolerate a wide
range of temperatures. Not having a goodly coat of fur, as bears have,
humans need something to keep the warmth that they produce from
dissipating immediately, but something that is slightly insulating and
windproof is quite adequate in temperatures down to below zero
Fahrenheit, when additional insulation become necessary.
Ectotherms require heavy, insulating garments whenever the
temperature drops below seventy degrees, or they will lose the warmth
they gained from other sources and eventually slow down and stop. A
pleasantly cool day with temperature in the thirties is painfully cold
to the ectotherms, so they pile on down coats or stay inside and adjust
their heating systems to put out even more heat to keep them from
stiffening up like a frog in a freezer.
Perhaps they have changed more than just their thermal
characteristics. I wonder if they are mammals any more. I have heard
that some animals that are clearly ectotherms are viviparous, as some
snakes are viviparous, so that doesn’t provide any useful information. I
wonder whether they have lost other mammalian traits.
Which reminds me that the ectotherms seem to also have trouble with the
upper end on the temperature range. Humans, like most hairless or
short-haired mammals, sweat to dissipate heat when the surroundings
become excessively warm. That is why humans have been able to tolerate
for short periods of time temperatures that exceed the temperature at
which water boils. Ectotherms seem to have trouble with temperatures
over eighty degrees, which leaves them with an operating range from
seventy-two to eighty, and above that they need to remain in
air-conditioned spaces that cool the air to about seventy. In contrast,
regular humans can operate in temperatures from about twenty to well
over one hundred with no problems, assuming that they have appropriate
garb.
I can understand that some humans never became accustomed to
extremes in temperature. The people of some parts of Africa and India in
particular are accustomed to heat, but they can’t take the coolth, and
some people who live in the Polar regions have trouble with the warmth.
*****
I wrote this far, when it suddenly came to me that the endotherms
and the ectotherms need not be different races. The difference could
also be explained as an evolutionary tactic in which ectothermic women
and endothermic men seek each other and vice versa. This would make for
more mixing of the gene pool, and more comfort for the women and men.
Those who always feel cold would tend to snuggle up with those who are
always warm, and both would be more comfortable. Rather than being a
wedge between two races that would not recombine but would eventually
become separate species, the different thermic types would mix and remix
like an electric furnace.
Whether you are an endotherm or an ectotherm, your comments are not
simply solicited but greatly desired. Should we eliminate ectotherms as
an undesirable degeneration of the human race or accept them as a way
to cool down on warm nights?
