Cooling Fin

Cooling Fin

kasey-tongueEvolutionary adaptations are sometimes bizarre, like the one that dogs and wolves evolved to shed excess heat. Their tongues are big liquid drenched cooling fins coated with capillaries  and vessels near the surface – if you click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photo you can see that. This is an adaptation that evolved over time, just as the thick fur that coats them to protect from cold did.

When Kasey runs in the winter she doesn’t pant, but when the temperature is above fifty degrees or so and she becomes active she pants a lot.