Behavior
Pompeii worms simultaneously keep their heads (including the gills) in much cooler water while their tails are exposed to hot water (see below). Since their internal temperature has yet to be measured, it is plausible that a Pompeii worm survives exposure to hot water by dissipating heat through its head to keep its internal temperature within the realm previously known to be compatible with animal survival.
Thought to subsist on vent microbes, the Pompeii worm pokes its head out of its tube home to feed and breathe. It is the posterior end that is exposed to extreme temperatures; the anterior end stays at a much more comfortable 22 °C (72 °F).
Read more about this topic: Alvinella Pompejana
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“The confusion of emotions with behavior causes no end of unnecessary trouble to both adults and children. Behavior can be commanded; emotions can’t. An adult can put controls on a child’s behavior—at least part of the time—but how do you put controls on what a child feels? An adult can impose controls on his own behavior—if he’s grown up—but how does he order what he feels?”
—Leontine Young (20th century)
“The ease with which problems are understood and solved on paper, in books and magazine articles, is never matched by the reality of the mother’s experience. . . . Her child’s behavior often does not follow the storybook version. Her own feelings don’t match the way she has been told she ought to feel. . . . There is something wrong with either her child or her, she thinks. Either way, she accepts the blame and guilt.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to accept—and in their acceptance seem to reinforce—these roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
—Ellen Lewis (20th century)