When winter’s chill grips the land and food becomes scarce, some animals deploy one of the most remarkable survival strategies in the natural world— hibernation . Hibernation is a prolonged state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, typically occurring during unfavorable environmental conditions such as extreme cold or food scarcity. In this state, an animal's body temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, and metabolism drop significantly to conserve energy. Unlike simple sleep, hibernation involves deep physiological changes that can last for weeks or months. This fascinating physiological state allows animals to endure extreme cold, limited food resources, and energy shortages by entering a prolonged period of metabolic depression. Far from being a simple “long nap,” hibernation involves complex biological changes that affect every organ system, from heart rate and respiration to cellular metabolism. While it is most often associated with bears, many species—rang...
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