Question

Dogs and other mammals can fluff up or press down their fur to increase or decrease their insulation, respectively, which is similar to what happens when we put on or take off pieces of clothing. Altering the fluffiness of their coat is extremely cheap energetically, and therefore has a negligible effect on their metabolic rate. If you shave your dog, what will happen to the width of his/her thermoneutral zone? A It will stay the same. B It will become narrower (span a more narrow range of ambient temperatures). C It will become wider (span a wider range of ambient temperatures).

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is option B "It will become narrower (span a more narrow range of ambient temperatures)".

Explanation:

Dogs, and other animals with fur, use their pelage to increase the range of ambient temperatures that they can tolerate. The way they do it is by altering their fluffiness depending if they are exposed to cooler or heater temperatures. If a dog is shaved, its thermoneutral zone will become narrower. Therefore, the dog will not be able to live in extremal temperature conditions as it did before with its fur.