TMNT metabolism
 

I have read here that some people think that TMNT are cold-blooded a.k.a. Ectotherm. It may seem logical since the tiny turtles they mutated from are indeed ectotherm (rely on external heat sources).

But then, what external heat source can the TMNT use? They live underground and they only exit at nights, shouldn't they be slow and sluggish then? :tconfuse:

Another theory is that they are Endotherm, such as humans, maybe as a direct consequence of the mutation and the mixing of turtles and human DNA.

Maybe the more conservative theory is that they are indeed ectotherm, but gigantotherm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantothermy).

What is it your opinion? :tsmile:

My theory is that Don fitted UV lights around the lair to compensate for the lack of sunshine.

Mutants.

Ain't got no time for sunshine and rainbows.

That theory don't exactly work on all TMNT incarnations, since only Fred Wolf, Archie and Nickelodeon,have a mutagen that mutates the victim into a hybrid of what it was last in contact with.

In the comic Soul's Winter, the turtles are hibernating and have to fight in snow, making them sluggish and an easier target for the Foot. Which is one of the few places I can recall cold blooded was ever brought up.

Turtles are indeed cold blooded, and not only that, but as most reptiles they need UVB and UVA rays for optimal living quality, as it stimulates appetite, activity and gives them D3 vitamin for calcium absorption, as turtles need that for their skeleton and shell. Turtles that don't get sufficient UVB will get soft shells, and other illnesses.

They were confirmed cold-blooded in the OT at the very least, as they explained it when Shredder's heat seeking missiles failed to find them.

If they were cold blooded could they make themselves stop bleeding since turtles can hibernate and direct blood flow away from non vital tissues and organs and directed towards the heart, brain and nervous system?

Going into hibernation is a lot of work, and possibly dangerous. I doubt doing hibernation to stop bleeding would be a such a good idea.

But is it possible?

Maybe, but turtles are slow healers, and hibernating might do more harm when being injured.

Good to know. I'm writing a fan fic of them trying treat a human that recently mutated into a reptile and is knock out cold. They're not sure how to treat to him without accidentally killing him in the process because of the mutagen tendencies to create unique physiologies on a dime. Is he cold blooded or warm blooded? Would cleaning him in antiseptic cause an allergic reaction? They don't know.

Donnie theorize that he's might be cold blood since his bleeding had stop abruptly after going into shock and have cold blood mutation would mean having a small chance of survival or at least more time.

I'm Anton Chigurh and I approve this message.

I would say warm blooded, since they seem to need to eat far more often then regular reptiles. Most reptiles can often go for long periods of time without eating due to their coldbloodedness, whereas warmbloods have to eat far more often as internal heat generation eats up a lot of calories.

Yet. Turtles or at least Red-Eared Sliders lacks the ability to tell that they are full from eating, hence it's easy to over feed a pet turtle, they won't stop.

They also confirmed cold-blooded in the 2K3 series (in the Monster Hunter ep) yet they also sweat in that one. I'd say- maybe a hybrid of the two? Ectothermic but with a faster metabolism that allows for better heat retention? (Burning fuel from digestion does create some heat in the body, as does heavy exercise.) Also, I'd think that due to their human digestion- they eat pizza, for heaven's sake, which a normal turtle probably couldn't digest- they probably could not hibernate without starving. It's a double-edge sword: a more efficient way to retain heat, but with the trade-off that they are more vulnerable to temperature extremes. I've noticed they seem to bundle up heavily in the cold, when a normal turtle would simply hibernate and ignore it. They seem more like a semi-ectothermic or giganto-thermic type of body. There is a theory that some dinosaurs were partially warm-blooded, so they may be similar.

I think the mutation turned them into warmbloods.

Yeah, turtles can't digest dairy, which at first I thought correlated with the origins, since the pizza craving is present in the Fred Wolf versions of the mutagen.

Then the theory fell flat with the live-action movies... And the IDW comic, and I think they have eaten pizza in 4Kids.

THIS THREAD:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls...17bvo1_250.gif

Because it's fun to speculate.

I've always been a fan of the Polythermic theory myself.

Exactly :tcool: