Ad
related to: animal hibernation video for kids download youtube playlist
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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. They ...
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.
An animal prepares for hibernation by building up a thick layer of body fat during late summer and autumn that will provide it with energy during the dormant period. During hibernation, the animal undergoes many physiological changes, including decreased heart rate (by as much as 95%) and decreased body temperature . [ 2 ]
Other animals that winter rest are badgers. Although a bear's body temperature decreases less than that of other mammals which undergo true hibernation, mostly changing around 6-7 degrees Celsius, this is a result of their large, heat-retaining body masses. [2] Their metabolism, the main indicator of hibernation, lowers significantly. [3]
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.
This behavior has been reported in California and New Mexico. Such an extended period of torpor is close to a state of hibernation, not known among other birds. It was described definitively by Dr. Edmund Jaeger in 1948 based on a poorwill he discovered hibernating in the Chuckwalla Mountains of California in 1946. [10]
However, when animals live in an environment that is inhospitable for much of the year, then hibernation is not necessary. One of the few animals that does so are lemmings, which have a mass migration after they come out of dormancy. However, most animals living in the arctic would still be active, even during the most brutal times of winter.
In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions. [1] [2] It is a physiological state with very specific initiating and inhibiting conditions. The mechanism is a means of surviving predictable, unfavorable environmental conditions, such as temperature ...