๐ฆ Animal world ๐ Meet the animals
Hibernation
๐ In short
When cold winter comes and food is scarce, some animals choose to sleep a long, deep sleep until spring returns. This long sleep is called hibernation, and it helps the animal survive the cold and hunger.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- During hibernation a ground squirrel's heart may beat only a few times a minute.
- Some animals also sleep through the hot summer; this is called aestivation.
- Some animals hibernate for several months.
- Animals lose a lot of weight during hibernation, because they live on their stored fat.
๐ Find out more
๐ What happens to the body?
During hibernation the animal's body temperature drops a lot, and its heartbeat and breathing slow right down, so it needs very little energy, as if its body were in power-saving mode.
๐ Getting ready to sleep
Before winter the animal eats a lot to store fat in its body, then looks for a safe place like an underground burrow, a cave or a hollow tree trunk.
๐ก Who sleeps all winter?
Animals that hibernate include the hedgehog, the bat, the ground squirrel and the marmot. Frogs, turtles and snakes also hibernate, in mud or underground.
๐ฏ And the bear?
The bear sleeps for a long time in winter in its den, but its sleep is lighter than true hibernation, so it can wake up if something disturbs it. And the mother bear sometimes gives birth to her cubs in her winter den!
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 Why do animals hibernate?
2 Which of these animals hibernates?
3 Which picture shows โHibernationโ?
๐ฆ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Magne Flรฅten ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
