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As hibernation is a seasonal response, the movement of the ancestor of birds and mammals onto land introduced them to seasonal pressures that would eventually become hibernation. [46] This is true for all clades of animals that undergo winter dormancy; the more prominent the seasons are, the longer the dormant period tends to be on average.
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]
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 ...
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 .
American black bears were once not considered true or "deep" hibernators, but because of discoveries about the metabolic changes that allow black bears to remain dormant for months without eating, drinking, urinating or defecating, most biologists have redefined mammalian hibernation as "specialized, seasonal reduction in metabolism concurrent ...
This terminology for the animal originated as a taboo avoidance term: proto-Germanic tribes replaced their original word for bear—arkto—with this euphemistic expression out of fear that speaking the animal's true name might cause it to appear. [4] [5] According to author Ralph Keyes, this is the oldest known euphemism. [6]
Some animals seasonally go into long periods of inactivity, with reduced body temperature and metabolism, made up of multiple bouts of torpor. This is known as hibernation if it occurs during winter or aestivation if it occurs during the summer. Daily torpor, on the other hand, is not seasonally dependent and can be an important part of energy ...
[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]