AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -hibernation, a state of greatly reduced metabolic activity and lowered body temperature adopted by certain mammals as an adaptation to adverse winter conditions. A brief treatment of hibernation follows. For full treatment, see dormancy.

Detailed explanation-2: -Background: Hibernation involves periods of severely depressed metabolism (torpor) and decreases in body temperature (Tb).

Detailed explanation-3: -Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability.

Detailed explanation-4: -When hibernating, an animal’s metabolism slows significantly: its heartbeat slows, it breathes more slowly (some animals even stop breathing for periods of over an hour) and its body temperature drops-in some extreme cases to below the freezing point of water (zero degrees Celsius).