6 Neat
Hibernating Animals
What is Hibernation?
• It is a state of inactivity or sleep that allows
many animals to survive winter or seasons
that bring little food and water. The
following usually happens in hibernation:
• Decreased metabolism
• Decreased body temperature
• Decreased heart beat and breathing rate
Bears
• Only four species of bear are hibernators: American
Black Bear, Asiatic Black bear, Brown bear and Polar
bear. These furry mammals don’t hibernate in the true
sense because their body temperature only drops a little
bit and they can wakeup at any moment. In fact, a
pregnant mama bear will have her cubs during the
hibernation period. Like true hibernators, the bear’s
heartbeat will slow down and they can go for a long time
without having any food. During hibernation a Black
bear’s heart can drop from 40-50 to 8 beats per minute
and they can last as long as 100 days without eating or
drinking!
Common Poorwill
Common Poorwill
• It isn’t often that you hear about a bird that
sleeps the bad weather away, that’s because the
Common Poorwill is the only known bird species
to hibernate. It picks a spot under shallow rocks
or rotten logs and stays there for up to five
months. Its daily energy needs drop by 93% and
it can stay asleep for 100 days! Its body temp
drops down to 60 F. Once hibernation is over, it
needs seven hours to get back to its normal
temperature.
Hedgehog
Hedgehog
• Hedgehogs are some of the deepest
hibernators around. Some can sleep
through the whole winter! Their body
temperature drops and they breathe so
little that it can hardly be seen. They have
special cells that release heat 20 times
faster than white cells. If temperatures
drop too low, their heart beat picks up to
produce more heat, which wakes them up
briefly before they fall asleep again.
Snail
Snail
• Snails have a built in bed for their
hibernation. They go into their shell, close
up the hole with a skin made of chalk and
slime that keeps the moisture in. During
this time, they use almost no energy and
don’t have to eat anything at all. In some
areas where there is little rain, snails can
hibernate for years!
Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs
Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs
• These live in Madagascar where temperatures
in June and July usually stay about 86 degrees
F. Now that might seem pretty warm to you, but
this is actually the coldest time of the year for
these lemurs. During this cold spell Fat-tailed
Dwarf Lemurs pick a tree and settle there for
about seven months until the rains return in
November and food is available again. During
their hibernation, they live off the fat in their tail
(hence fat-tailed) losing close to 50% of their
body weight!
Alpine Marmots
Alpine Marmots
• Found in mountainous areas of central
and southern Europe. Marmots hibernate
for up to eight months! They spend the
four months they are awake having babies
and preparing for the next hibernation.
During hibernation they take only 2-3
breaths a minute and their heartbeat slows
down from their normal 120 beats to 3-4
beats a minute!