AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Hibernators tend to eat a lot of extra food in the fall in anticipation of their winter slumber and build significant stores of white and brown body fat to tide them over. Brown fat provides extra body heat as well as needed energy when the animal wakes up.

Detailed explanation-2: -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).

Detailed explanation-3: -Despite what you may have heard, species that hibernate don’t “sleep” during the winter. Hibernation is an extended form of torpor, a state where metabolism is depressed to less than five percent of normal.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hibernation is a way for many creatures – from butterflies to bats – to survive cold, dark winters without having to forage for food or migrate to somewhere warmer. Instead, they turn down their metabolisms to save energy. Animals in hot climates also undergo a form of hibernation called aestivation.

Detailed explanation-5: -During hibernation, an animal’s body temperature, heart rate, breathing, and other metabolic activities slow down significantly in order to conserve energy. While resources are scarce, hibernation allows animals like bears, chipmunks, and bats to use their stored energy much more slowly.