An endotherm is an organism (birds, mammals, some fish and insects, even some plants) that are capable of generating their own heat energy to maintain a high core temperature. They usually do this by metabolic means of through aerobic activity (or biochemical mechanisms in some plants) and this is why they are considered warm blooded since these organism usually have higher temperatures than their environment. To maintain there body temperature at a core temperature they must go through balancing heat gain and heat lose (homeostasis for some organisms like mammals), which they do by exercising or having thick layers of fat or skins and then loose heat by sweating, panting, or going into cooler shelters. This is a picture of my hamster which is an endotherm since it is a mammal and has a layer of fur to keep its temperature at constant.
Source:
Kunz, Thomas. (March 19, 2008) Endotherm.
eoearth.org. Retrieved on August 30, 2011, from
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Endotherm
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