Talk:Allen's rule

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[edit] Clarifications

It is important to remember that exposure of exterior surface area is only one of many mechanisms by which humans retain or dispose of body heat. The following mechanisms are also very important:

Sweating Shivering Skin colour Behaviour

Note that for the first three of these mechanisms, Allen's rule will directly effect the outcome anyway. So I don't think this section adds anything at all!Garrie 21:17, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Non-human examples

Not sure why human racial differences are the only examples given here. Philwelch (talk) 17:55, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Possibly, racial variations may be a bad example to use. The pygmies(or bushmen) are a well known african tribe, the adults usually dont grow beyond 4.5 ft. I really dont see how allens rule would explain that. ~Gigi~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.191.250.153 (talk) 14:39, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Concrete evidence for the rule has been hard to come by until recently. A paper was published last year that seemed to show the rule was true for related seabirds. Nudds & Oswald (2007) An interspecific test of allen's rule: evolutionary implications for endothermic species". Evolution Volume 61 Issue 12, Pages 2839 - 2848. Sabine's Sunbird talk 02:44, 30 July 2008 (UTC)