Facts about Hibernation
During hibernation, animals drastically lower their metabolism so as to tap energy reserves stored as body fat at a slower rate.
Hibernation may last several days or weeks depending on species, ambient temperature, and time of the year.
Hibernation can be considered as the most economic choice to escape the extreme environmental conditions.
Some halt their development and remain dormant to escape such situations, including hibernation.
Hibernating animals have something in their blood called HIT, or Hibernation Inducement Trigger.
The energy released in this way is particularly important to rapidly raise the core temperature during waking from hibernation (Taylot et al.
Such a daily torpor differs from hibernation in the length of the dormancy.
Before entering hibernation, most species eat a large amount of food in the fall, while it is plentiful and store energy in fat deposits in order to survive the winter.
Ecologists sometimes prefer to term hibernation as time migration.
Hibernation is a state of inactivity (deep sleep) and metabolic depression in animals, typically in cold weather, and characterized by lower body temperature, slower heart beat and breathing, and lower metabolic rate.
Hibernation helps to conserve energy during winter, when there is scarcity of food.
The major disadvantage of hibernation is that the animal is left quite defenseless if it is not using a very secure, protected hibernating den, (known as the hibernaculum).