My question has to do with homeostasis. We sweat in order to dissipate heat and cool off. We shiver in order to generate heat and keep warm. What homeostatic system is this keeping balanced?

toughynutter

"Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when temperature surrounding is very different. This process is one aspect of homeostasis: a dynamic state of stability between an animal's internal environment and its external environment (the study of such processes in zoology has been called ecophysiology or physiological ecology). ...By numerous observations upon humans and other animals, John Hunter showed that the essential difference between the so-called warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals lies in observed constancy of the temperature of the former, and the observed variability of the temperature of the latter. Almost all birds and mammals have a high temperature almost constant and independent of that of the surrounding air. This is called homeothermy. Almost all other animals display a variation of body temperature, dependent on their surroundings. This is called poikilothermy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoregulation Mar 06 07, 10:00 AM