- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Maybe they don't need to stay warm. Maybe they are cold-blooded. Maybe they are immune to what we would consider to be the uncomfortable effects of temperature variations; and as long as their blood doesn't get cold enough to freeze or hot enough to boil, they are happy and their bodies work well.
Maybe they are warm-blooded; but due to their biological make-up "warm" for them is below the freezing point of water.
Or maybe they are warm-blooded, but they have an excellent circulatory system and a metabolism like a hummingbird: burning enormous amounts of calories to keep warm.
Maybe they DO have an excellent layer of insulation, maybe something that insulates better than fat.
Maybe they are "un-warm-blooded" --> Their body chemistry works to cool them down below ambient temperature (like a refrigerator).
Maybe they burrow on their home planet, or only thrived near geothermal sources until technological advancement allowed them to tame the entire planet.
Maybe they had forebears who dropped them off on the planet (as in Home World); and all extraterrestial remnants of the race were susequently wiped out.
Maybe it is a combination of things listed above and/or things I haven't thought of.
I don't know the answer, but the above are just a few of the considerations I would find believable...
Edit: A few examples of earth animal that demonstrate that animal with very little natural insulation can survive in very cold habitats: minnows (and other small fish, octopus and a wide variety of sea life much to numerous to list); reptiles (albeit very slowed down); salamanders; naked mole rat; and humans.
[Edited on 9/29/2004 1:52:39 PM]