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Hibernation functions to conserve energy when sufficient food is not available. To achieve this energy saving, an endothermic animal decreases its metabolic rate and thereby its body temperature. [3] Hibernation may last days, weeks, or months—depending on the species, ambient temperature, time of year, and the individual's body-condition.
The primary physiological and biochemical concerns for an aestivating animal are to conserve energy, retain water in the body, ration the use of stored energy, handle the nitrogenous end products, and stabilize bodily organs, cells, and macromolecules. This can be quite a task as hot temperatures and arid conditions may last for months, in some ...
Sleep can follow a physiological or behavioral definition. In the physiological sense, sleep is a state characterized by reversible unconsciousness, special brainwave patterns, sporadic eye movement, loss of muscle tone (possibly with some exceptions; see below regarding the sleep of birds and of aquatic mammals), and a compensatory increase following deprivation of the state, this last known ...
The cougar (Puma concolor) (/ ˈ k uː ɡ ər /, KOO-gər), also known as the panther, mountain lion, catamount and puma, is a large cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world.
This is a list of North American mammals. It includes all mammals currently found in the United States, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, Greenland, Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean region, whether resident or as migrants. This article does not include species found only in captivity.
The American pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal native to North America and is one of the smallest mammals in the world, just slightly larger than the Etruscan shrew of Eurasia. Its body is about 5 cm (2 in) long including a 2-cm-long tail, and it weighs about 2.0 to 4.5 g (0.07 to 0.16 oz). [ 9 ]
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Lemurs have low basal metabolic rates (BMR), which helps them to conserve energy during the dry season, when water and food are scarce. [ 2 ] [ 67 ] They can optimize their energy use by lowering their metabolic rate to 20% below the values predicted for mammals of similar body mass. [ 92 ]