How do endotherms manage their metabolic processes when overheating?

Endotherms, or warm-blooded animals, regulate their body temperature through various physiological processes. When they begin to overheat, the primary strategy employed is to decrease their metabolic rate. This reduction helps diminish the internal heat generated by metabolic processes and is complemented by other mechanisms like seeking shade or increasing water intake.

By lowering their metabolic rate, endotherms can effectively manage excess body heat and maintain homeostasis. This is essential because overheating can lead to cellular damage and other physiological stress responses. Other responses, such as increasing breathing rate, may also occur to facilitate heat loss, but the core adjustment to mitigate overheating involves controlling metabolic activity, hence the decrease in metabolic rate is a key response in this scenario.