Heart - The hearts of other animals - Encyclopedia II

Main article: Circulatory system#Types of circulatory systems

Smaller animals have faster heartbeats. This is evident within a species as well, as the young beat their hearts faster than the adults. The Gray Whale's heart beats 9 times per minute, Harbour Seal 10 when diving, 140 when on land, elephant 25, human 70, sparrow 500, shrew 600, and hummingbird 1,200 when hovering.

The earthworm has a series of multiple primitive hearts.

The hearts of cattle, sheep, pigs and certain fowl are consumed as food in many countries. They are counted among offal, but being a muscle, the taste of heart is much more like regular meat than that of other offal. It resembles venison in structure and taste.

Different species have different heart chambers. It can vary from one to four chambers (2 atria and 2 ventricle)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The hearts of other animals", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page