Ep 55: Hot wings: How birds stay cool under the Australian sun (with Christine Cooper)

How do birds and other small animals cope with extreme heat? And can their tactics withstand increases in the magnitude and regularity of extreme heat events as the climate changes?

On this episode of Big Biology we talk to Christine Cooper (@CECooperEcophys), a vertebrate ecophysiologist and professor at Curtin University, Australia. Christine’s research focuses on the thermal, metabolic, and water physiology of Australian mammals and birds. Her recent research, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, details how one small and common bird, the zebra finch, responds to prolonged and intense Australian heat waves. We also discussed the evolution of vertebrate endothermy and how various other animals have evolved to cope with changes in temperature. 

This episode is sponsored by Journal of Experimental Biology. The journal is published by the Company of Biologists, a not-for-profit that has been supporting and inspiring the biological community since 1925. JEB is at the forefront of comparative physiology and biomechanics.