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Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most commonly used to pass through winter months – called overwintering.
Black bear mother and cubs hibernating, utilizing a hibernaculum as a maternity den. Like other animals, mammals hibernate during seasons of harsh environmental conditions and resource scarcity. As it requires less energy to maintain homeostasis and survive when an individual is hibernating, this is a cost-effective strategy to increase ...
Hibernation is voluntary, whereas torpor is involuntary, like breathing. There are many animals that do go into full hibernation. True hibernators include squirrels , mice, bats, and turtles .
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels can survive in hibernation for over six months without food or water and special physiological adaptations allow them to do so. [6] They alternate between torpor bouts of 7 to 10 days when their body temperatures drops to 5-7°C, and interbout arousals of less than 24 hours with their body temperature back to 37 ...
[9] [10] In the traditional definition of hibernation, the largest marmots are considered the largest "true hibernators" (since larger "hibernators" such as bears do not have the same physiological characteristics as obligate hibernating animals such as assorted rodents, bats and insectivores). [11] [12]
Knowing that hibernating animals still need their blood to supply oxygen, the scientists’ goal was to discern how critical red blood cells survived as internal temperatures plunged.
The production of heat by brown fat metabolism is called non-shivering thermogenesis and is common in many hibernating animals. Bundling up with extra fur or feathers.
When the groundhog enters hibernation, there is a drop in body temperature to as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 °C), heart rate falls to 4–10 beats per minute and breathing rate falls to one breath every six minutes. [49] During hibernation, they experience periods of torpor and arousal. [50]