Man I love Nerds. I haven’t completely figured out my own official designation yet. I am a hybrid, perhaps leaning into Nerd a bit from my previous mostly Geek. Doesn’t really matter though. We both rule the world. So you plan on vacationing on HOTH, the icy, desolate and cavey Rebel base last featured in “The Empire Strikes Back”. You’re asking yourself, if I get caught outside the base after sundown and I’m feeling a bit chilly, how do I keep frost free until morning?
Well, you slice open your faithful Tauntaun companion and crawl inside. Smelly, but toasty warm. How warm will it be inside this creature exactly is the question asked over at Wolfgnards. The question was posed and answered but what is really fun is the comments correcting the original post on the mistakes in the logic and biology of the answer. This is Nerd at it’s most epic brilliance.
Here’s a couple of comments:
1) The Tauntaun could have died of exhaustion/heart attack, and actually be hyperthermic at death.
2) The cooling curve assumes human physiology. Highly blubbery animals retain heat, and post-mortem metabolism keeps producing heat. There are reports of whales, seals, and reindeer having almost no change in body temperatures for hours after death. My guess is a TuanTuan is more like a reindeer than a person.
IRVING, L., AND J. KROGH, 1954. Body temperatures of arctic and subarctic birds and mam
mals. J. Appl. Physiol., 6 : 667-”680AND
I work on sled dogs in extremely cold environments, and I have to say that the hyperthermia theory is sound. Heat stroke is a problem in sled dogs. Hypothermia does occur, as well, but overexertion leading to thermal injury from too much heat is much more common. Also, there are issues with kidney function secondary to muscle damage in animals worked too hard. This also occurs in horses ridden too hard in endurance races, especially if they are allowed to become dehydrated. And while the cold is the obvious presumed cause of death for Han’s tauntaun, it doesn’t make sense for all the reasons stated above. Native environment, natural insulation, etc, make it unlikely that the tauntaun would freeze to death so quickly (it might still freeze in a tremendous storm without cover, but not so quickly) and hyperthermia or myoglobinuria or an underlying previously unknown medical condition, such as a cardiomyopathy, are far more likely to have killed the tauntaun. The last differential is probably most likely, as the death was sudden and occurred without any obvious seizures or other signs of increased body temperature. Just my nickel. Also? The fact that this conversation exists fills me with glee. Thanks!
Fellow Nerds, on this the last day of this decade, I salute you. Live long and prosper. Thanks BoingBoing, temple of Nerd, for the via.
