Poikilothermic for Dummies

Poikilothermic is a fancy word that describes an animal's ability (or rather, lack of ability) to control its own internal body temperature. You know how when you go outside on a cold winter day, you start shivering because your body tries to warm itself up? Well, poikilothermic animals can't do that. They rely on outside sources, such as the sun or their environment, to warm them up when they get cold, or to cool them down when they get too hot.

Think about it this way: imagine you're in a car with no heater or air conditioner, which means you have no control over the temperature. On a hot day, the only way you can cool off is by rolling down the windows or opening the car door to let in some fresh air. And on a freezing day, you can only warm up by bundling up in lots of cozy layers or finding a source of warmth, like sitting in the sun.

Poikilothermic animals are similar to the situation I just described, except they have even less control over their body temperature than you do in that car. So they have to rely on their surroundings to help them stay warm or cool. For example, you might have heard that reptiles, like snakes and lizards, are poikilothermic animals. They love basking in the sun to warm themselves up because they can't produce their own body heat. On the other hand, they also seek out shade or burrows to cool down when it gets too hot.

Now, there's another definition of poikilothermic that's related to plants. Have you ever noticed how some plants look different in different seasons? Well, that's because plants can also be poikilothermic in a way. They can change their appearance, like how their leaves change color in the fall, depending on the temperature and other environmental conditions. It's almost like plants have their own fashion sense and style that changes with the weather!

So, to sum it all up, poikilothermic means that an animal or plant cannot control its own body temperature and relies on its environment to stay warm or cool. It's like being stuck in that temperature-less car, where you have to roll down the windows on a hot day or bundle up on a freezing day. And for plants, it's like having a seasonal wardrobe that adjusts to the weather.