Biting cold, masses of snow and long winter nights: feathered animals head south, other four-legged creatures get cold feet, turn their backs on the world and retreat into their burrows for weeks. They simply sleep through the uncomfortable season, entrenched and well-fed. But not all hibernation is the same. Mammals in the wild, like birds, belong to the so-called equi-hibernating (homeothermic) animals and hibernate or hibernate to survive the cold season. Domestic animals – except turtles – are not hibernators. They remain active and get a thick winter coat as frost protection.
Hibernate
What animals hibernate? These include, for example:
- Groundhog
- Dormouse
- Dormouse
- Hamster
- Hedgehog
- Shrew
- Bat
Animal that go into hibernation, lower their body temperature drastically, in some cases down to zero degrees, bats even below. The lowered metabolism is kept stable in hibernation by oxidation of fat.
Like metabolism, blood sugar levels and blood pressure are lowered, and respiration, heartbeat and blood circulation are slowed. Urine production is almost or completely stopped, depending on the species. Only small animals up to eight kilograms of body weight can thus slumber in winter with impunity.
Hibernation
Larger animals, such as badgers, raccoons and brown bears, but also squirrels, hibernate because a sharp drop in body temperature would be life-threatening for them: they curb their activity to a minimum during the cold season in order to save energy.
Hibernators lower their body temperature by only a few degrees in winter, waking frequently and eating food.
Cold dormancy
The so-called cold torpor exists only in cold-blooded animals such as:
- Fish
- Amphibians
- Reptiles
- Insects
Alternating warm animals do not keep their body temperature constant, but change it with the ambient temperature. If it is too cold frog, lizard or bumblebee, they fall into a rigidity, which is called cold torpor. Unlike hibernators at the same temperature, cold-starved animals cannot be awakened by external stimuli.
What are summer sleepers?
Incidentally, in addition to hibernators, hibernacula, and cryostars, there are also summer sleepers, mainly in the tropics and subtropics, for example, the mouse possum, the yellow gopher, and the cactus mouse.
