Body temperature facts for kids

Body temperature is how warm your body is. Many animals, including humans, can control their body temperature. This is called thermoregulation. For people, a normal body temperature is usually around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). You can measure it in your mouth, under your arm, or in other places like your ear or forehead.

What is Thermoregulation?

Thermoregulation is how living things keep their body temperature steady. Imagine your body is like a finely tuned machine. It needs to stay at a certain temperature to work correctly. If you get too hot or too cold, your body's systems can't do their jobs well.

Why is Body Temperature Important?

Keeping a stable body temperature is super important for survival. Our bodies have many chemical reactions happening all the time. These reactions work best within a narrow temperature range. If the temperature goes too high or too low, these reactions slow down or stop. This can make you sick or even be dangerous.

How Humans Control Their Temperature

Humans are "warm-blooded," meaning we keep our temperature pretty much the same. Our bodies have amazing ways to do this:

• When it's hot:

* We sweat! When sweat evaporates from your skin, it takes heat with it, cooling you down. * Blood vessels near your skin get wider. This lets more blood flow close to the surface, releasing heat into the air.

• When it's cold:

* We shiver. Shivering is your muscles quickly contracting and relaxing, which creates heat. * Blood vessels near your skin get narrower. This keeps warm blood deeper inside your body, saving heat. * We get "goosebumps." This makes your body hair stand up, trapping a layer of warm air close to your skin.

How Animals Control Their Temperature

Animals use many clever tricks to control their body temperature:

• Seeking shade: Some animals, like the sooty tern chicks, hide under bigger animals or plants to escape the sun.
• Licking: A kangaroo might lick its arms. The saliva evaporates, cooling the blood flowing through its limbs.
• Huddling: When it's very cold, animals like penguins or small birds gather close together. This helps them share body heat and stay warm.
• Big ears: Animals like foxes or elephants have large ears with many blood vessels. They can send blood to their ears to cool down, or reduce blood flow to keep warm.
• Changing behavior: An ostrich can handle very hot days and cold nights. They might stand in the sun to warm up or find shade to cool down. They can also change their feathers' position to trap or release heat.

Images for kids

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  Seeking shade is one method of cooling. Here sooty tern chicks are using a black-footed albatross chick for shade.

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  Kangaroo licking its arms to cool down

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  Simplified control circuit of human thermoregulation.

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  During cold weather many animals increase their thermal inertia by huddling.

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  An ostrich can keep its body temperature relatively constant, even though the environment can be very hot during the day and cold at night.

See also

In Spanish: Termorregulación para niños