Question

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1. Miss Muffins went for a walk in the forest during the winter month of December. She sat on the bark of a broken tree and watched a squirrel shiver as it was foraging for seeds in the deep velvet snow. From the topic of homeostasis, how would you classify the squirrel? What mechanisms help the squirrel to maintain a homeostatic temperature during Winter? 2. Miss Muffins decided to continue her walk in the forest and came face to face with a brown bear (who was not hibernating because it had rabies). Miss Muffins was in shock and she decided to run for her life. While running, she stumbled and fell on a piece of sharp wood, which pierced her hand. She withdrew her hand in a matter of seconds only to notice that she was bleeding profusely. She took matters in her hands and tried to stop the bleeding. Explain and describe all the biological systems that were activated during Miss Muffins' adventure in part 2

Answer 1

1  Ground squirrels hibernate, but not grey squirrels. Instead of hibernating during the winter, grey squirrels actually spend a majority of their time sleeping in tree nests and come out only during the morning and evening.

The grey squirrels prepare for the winter by storing acorns, nuts, berries, and even tree bark in shallow holes near the trees. They are also prepare by maximizing their food consumption and body mass.

During the winter, the grey squirrels survive by eating their stored food and by keeping their body temperatures fairly constant. Gray squirrels are homeotherms, which means that they are warm-blooded animals that can maintain a stable body temperature throughout a wide range of environmental conditions by regulating metabolic processes of heat production and heat loss. This act of regulating their temperature is their way of having homeostasis or balance in the body.

To keep their temperature level in check, which should be between 98 and 102 degrees, the sensors in the blood vessels are constantly reporting the body temperature back to the hypothalamus in the brain. Squirrels keep their body temperatures stable (within homeostasis) by sleeping in a communal arrangement. This is a form of conduction, in which heat can be transferred between the two squirrels that are touching. Squirrels are also endotherms, which means that they can create their own heat through metabolism. This explains why the squirrels maximize their food consumption in preparation for the winter. When it is really cold in the winter, the squirrels will also use shivering to keep warm, as it is a way of generating heat.

2 As she ran away this lead to release of adrenaline due to shock because In medical terms, shock is the body’s response to a sudden drop in blood pressure. At first, the body responds to this life-threatening situation by constricting (narrowing) blood vessels in the extremities (hands and feet). This is called vasoconstriction and it helps conserve blood flow to the vital organs. But the body also releases the hormone (chemical) adrenaline and this can reverse the body’s initial response. When this happens, the blood pressure drops, which can be fatal.