Jubair Hussain
Hibernation is a time when animals ‘sleep’ through cold weather. This sleep is not like human sleep where loud noises can wake you up. With true hibernation, the animal can be moved around or touched and not know it. We are going to use the word ‘sleep’ sometimes but hibernation is different from regular sleep. With normal sleep, the animals move a little, have an active brain, and can wake up very quickly. With true hibernation, the animal appears dead. There is no movement and it takes a long time for it to wake up enough to even walk around.
We will show you how animals get ready to sleep the winter away, what it is like, and who does it.
GETTING READY
During the fall, hibernating animals eat more food than usual. Their bodies will live off their body fat as they ‘sleep’ through winter. The animal will use up the body fat it stores and not lose any muscle. This causes the animal to come out of hibernation thinner than but still as strong as it was in the fall.
The animals get their winter nests, dens and burrows ready. Different kinds of animals hibernate in different kinds of safe spots. When they go into hibernation and their bodies slow down, enemies can get them easier. They try to pick the safest place to spend the winter away from these enemies.
WHAT IT IS AND WHO DOES IT
Hibernation is the way that animals adapt to the climate and land around them. Animals must be able to live through extreme cold, or die. Animals hibernate- or deep sleep- to escape that cold. They also do this because it is really hard to find food during the winter.
We don’t think about body energy too often. Our bodies are like machines that need power to work right. Food gives animals the energy they need to walk, run, hunt for food, and lots of other things. Hibernating animals store food as body fat during the end of summer and during fall. This body fat runs their bodies all winter. This would be hard to do if they stayed awake, moved around a lot, or ran around because those things would use up the body fat before winter was over. A hibernating animal’s body saves energy by doing a couple of cool things.
When an animal begins to hibernate, its body temperature drops very low so that it almost matches the temperature outside. Your temperature is normally about 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit. If you were a hibernator and it was 30 degrees outside, your body temperature would drop from 98.4 down to about 30-40 degrees. THAT’S cold!
The animal’s heartbeat and breathing slow down, too. This is when that stored fat that the animal packed on in the fall comes in handy. This stored fat lasts longer because their bodies are slowed down so much that they don’t need much energy. This is how the animal makes it through the whole winter on the fat it has stored in its body. This is why it’s important for animals to get enough food stored in the fall. If there is a shortage of food at that time, the animal might not live until spring when it can find its food again.
Some of these hibernators also store food in their caves and burrows. The ones that do this do not sleep straight through the winter. They wake up once in awhile, walk around a little, and eat before they go back to sleep. Some warm-blooded hibernators are: Badgers, Bats, Chipmunks, Dormouse, Fat-tailed lemurs, Ground squirrels, Hamsters, Marmots, Groundhogs, Woodchucks, Hedgehogs, Nighthawks, Poor-Wills, Prairie Dogs, Raccoon, Skunks, Swifts and Bears
Cold-blooded hibernators begin hibernation when the cold weather causes their body temperatures to drop. Cold-blooded animals do not have a body temperature like humans do. Our temperature stays about 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit all the time. Cold-blooded animal temperatures stay the same as the air temperature around them. If it is 50 degrees outside, the lizard is around 50 degrees. If it is 110 outside, then they are about 110, too. Since we already said that hibernators adapt to their environments, you can see why these animals would try to escape extreme cold AND heat by hibernating. Hibernation is sleeping through cold and aestivation is sleeping through heat. Cold-blooded hibernators will wake up when the air outside warms or cools enough for them to be comfortable. Some cold-blooded hibernators are: Bees, Earthworms, Frogs and toads, Lizards, Mud Turtles, Snails, Snakes.
Here some animals description
BADGER : The badger is a burrowing mammal with a black-and-white striped face. Badgers are nocturnal (most active at night). They are found in tropical forests, plains, woodlands, mountains, and prairies in Asia, Europe, and North America. Badgers have a life span of 11-13 years in captivity. They are closely related to skunks, martens, and weasels.
Some badgers live in groups called clans. These clans construct complex, long-lasting networks of tunnels and chambers called setts. Members of clans communicate using sounds and scents. North American badgers are solitary; European badgers are sociable. Their enemies include people, coyotes, and dogs.
BATS : Some Bats are hibernators. In the fall large flocks of Big Brown Bats find shelter for the winter. The bats hang upside down and pull their wings and tails close to their bodies to keep warm. Their body temperature drops and they seem to be dead. Bats hibernate from October to April, waking up once a month. Bats likes warm buildings to hibernate in and are able squeeze through a hole the size of a thumb.
CHIPMUNKS : Chipmunks often have their winter burrows under trees. They sleep in a nest made of grasses, leaves and plant fluff which helps to keep them warm in the winter. They wake up often and snack. During late summer, chipmunks gather seeds and nuts. They are able to carry large amounts of food in their cheek pouches. The food is stored in the den under their nests. They also bury food around their dens.
DORMOUSE : The dormouse is a small rodent that is found worldwide in almost every type of environment. Mice can live as long as 6 years in captivity. Most mice build nests in protected nooks, but some burrow into the ground. Many mice are nocturnal (most active at night).
SQUIRRELS : Squirrels like to make their winter den in a hollow tree where they build a cozy nest of grasses, leaves and twigs. They grow a thick winter coat and their body heat keeps them warm in their nest. In the fall, squirrels hide nuts and pine cones to eat. They use their sense of smell to find the food they have buried. Squirrels also like to visit bird feeders. On very cold days, squirrels stay in their dens and snack on the food they have stored.
HAMSTER : The hamster is a small, burrowing rodent that lives in the wild in parts of Asia and Europe. They store food before hibernate. Hamsters have a life span of about 2 to 2.5 years
GROUNDHOG/WOODCHUCK : Groundhog is another name for Woodchuck. This rodent is a type of marmot. These solitary mammals hibernate in burrows. Groundhogs are found in North America in forests and fields.
HEDGEHOG : The hedgehog is a small, noisy mammal whose hair is modified into stiff, spiky spines on the upper part of its body. Large birds of prey (like owls); foxes and badgers are the only enemies of hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are native to Africa, Asia and Europe and have been introduced to New Zealand. They can live in a wide variety of habitats, including deserts, forests, and plains. Hedgehogs will hibernate in very cold climates. Hedgehogs have a life span of about 5 years in captivity.
RACCOONS : Raccoons do not hibernate for the entire winter. During the coldest times, they enter a state of “torpor” where they are able to live off the fat that they stored in their bodies. During nicer weather, when the temperature rises abet, they do come out and find some food to eat.
BEARS : Bears are not “true” hibernators. They go into their dens (caves, hollow trees, river banks) in the fall their body temperature drops a little and their heart rate slows down, but not as much as true hibernators. Bears go into a “torpor” or temporary sleep and can wake up and walk around. The tiny cubs are born in the dens during the winter season. Bears eat and eat in the late summer and fall, so that they can store fat before going to their dens. When they come out in the spring, bears are very thin and very hungry. Female polar bears will spend the winter in dens if they are going to give birth.
FROGS : Frogs hibernate at the bottom of streams and ponds where the water does not freeze. Woodland frogs find shelter under leaves and dirt. During the winter they freeze (sleep very deeply) but thaw out and wake up in the spring.
PAINTED TERRAPIN : The painted turtle, Chrysemys picta, is a common turtle in North America; it is also called the painted terrapin. This reptile lives in ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow-moving rivers that have soft, muddy bottoms. In the wild, this turtle lives from 5 to 10 years; in captivity it can live over 20 years. During very cold weather, northern painted turtles hibernate, burying themselves for months in the mud beneath streams and ponds.
SNAKES : Snakes travel to one spot where hundreds of them can hibernate together so they can stay warm. Snake dens can be found in rocks, burrows, or old wells and basements.
BEAVERS : Beavers spend the winter in their lodges. The lodges have entrances below the frozen surface so they can leave the lodge and swim to the branches they have stored a short distance from the lodge. If the pond freezes all the way to the bottom, beavers may become trapped in their lodges and starve.
LADYBUGS : Ladybugs spend the winter in a state of sleep known as diapauses. They fatten up for the winter by eating plenty of aphids and pollen. Then they hide in buildings or under logs, rocks or piles of leaves. Many other insects also fall into a deep sleep and wait for warmer weather to arrive.
PUPFISH : The Pupfish, genus Cyprinodon, is a tiny fish that lives in springs, ponds, marshes, and slow-flowing streams in the deserts of southwestern North America. During the coldest parts of winter, pupfish burrow into the muddy bottom and become dormant until the weather warms up. They then mate and reproduce quickly.