Editing Allen's rule (section)

{{Short description|Relation of habitat temperature and limb length}}
[[File:Allens rule, Lepus, hare, ears, Earth.png|alt=Earth, ears, hare, Lepus|thumb|Allen's rule - Hare and its ears on the Earth<ref>{{Cite book|last=FRYDRÝŠEK|first=Karel|title=Biomechanika 1|publisher=VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics|year=2019|isbn=978-80-248-4263-9|location=Ostrava, Czech Republic|pages=338–339}}</ref>|250x250px]]
'''Allen's rule''' is an [[ecogeographical rule]] formulated by [[Joel Asaph Allen]] in 1877,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Joel Asaph |last=Allen |authorlink=Joel Asaph Allen |title=The influence of Physical conditions in the genesis of species |journal=Radical Review |year=1877 |volume=1 |pages=108–140 |url=http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/biogeog/ALLE1877.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Barry Holstun |last=Lopez |year=1986 |title=Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape |publisher=Scribner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-WxJYMD5HsC |isbn=978-0-684-18578-1}}</ref> broadly stating that animals adapted to cold climates have shorter and thicker limbs and bodily [[Appendage|appendages]] than animals adapted to warm climates. More specifically, it states that the body [[surface-area-to-volume ratio]] for [[Homeothermy|homeothermic]] animals varies with the average temperature of the habitat to which they are adapted (i.e. the ratio is low in cold climates and high in hot climates).