Final answer:
Active, cold-blooded animals would likely have the second highest production efficiency because they do not need to expend a lot of energy maintaining their body temperature and can convert the energy they absorb efficiently to sustain activity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question at hand is related to the production efficiency of different types of animals, which refers to how well an organism converts the energy it absorbs from its food into biomass. Warm-blooded animals, or endotherms, maintain a constant body temperature regardless of environmental changes, enabling their cellular processes to function at optimal efficiency all the time. Although this allows for higher levels of activity, it also requires significant energy input. Therefore, active warm-blooded animals have the lowest production efficiency because they expend a lot of energy to maintain their body temperature and support their activity.
Cold-blooded animals, or ectotherms, rely on environmental heat to regulate their body temperature, which often makes them less energetically demanding. Among cold-blooded animals, the active ones would have a greater production efficiency than their sedentary counterparts as their active lifestyle often requires efficient conversion of energy to sustain their movement and various activities. Meanwhile, sedentary warm-blooded animals would have a higher production efficiency than active warm-blooded animals, but would likely still require significant energy for thermoregulation.
Based on the principles of energy usage and thermoregulation in animals, we can deduce that the second highest production efficiency would likely be found in active, cold-blooded animals.