Arctic ground squirrels can temporarily drop their body temperature to -3☌ (27☏) without freezing solid. AR Cell and Developmental Biology 2020 / Knowable Magazine Not coolīears take an approach to hibernation that’s far different from other slumberers. Bears stand out from the rest because of their much larger size.Īdapted from S.M. Several groups of mammals deliberately slow their metabolisms, either overnight (daily torpor) or during the winter (hibernation).
How they respond will say much about their commitment to winter naps, and about the deep interconnections between climate and animal behavior. A better understanding of the process could potentially change our approach to a wide range of human conditions, including stroke, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s (see sidebar).īears, too, will have to rethink their concept of hibernation as the climate warms and winters grow shorter. “Hibernation is so complex it requires adaptations at multiple levels,” she says.īear hibernation offers important insights into the workings of large mammals, especially us, explains Gracheva, who coauthored an exploration of the physiology of hibernation in the 2020 Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology. The choreography that goes into shutting down a creature this big defies easy explanation, says Elena Gracheva, a neurophysiologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Adult grizzly and black bears weigh as much as American football players, or more, with the energy and curiosity of preschoolers, but they have no trouble hunkering down for months at time. The roster of animals that hibernate includes all manner of rodents, some amphibians and even a few primates (several species of dwarf lemurs), but bears are literally the biggest hibernators of them all. It’s tempting to say that that they are “waking up,” but hibernation is more complicated and mysterious than a simple long sleep: Any animal that can spend months underground without eating or drinking and still emerge ready to face the world has clearly mastered an amazing trick of biology.
Every spring, as days in the north stretch longer and melting snow trickles into streams, drowsy animals ranging from grizzlies to ground squirrels start to rally from hibernation.
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