With the cold and the lack of food in winter, some animals have no choice but to hibernate. This way they minimize the energy expenditure they need and remain lethargic during the colder months. It seems incredible to think about how they do it, actually it is quite a mystery how they survive in a state in which the body remains completely inactive and yet after a comatose winter, they start again to live as if it were two days of sleep. hibernation
Do you know which animals hibernate at this time?
Of course, bears are one of the most famous and common, however, there are many others who also spend the harsh cold seasons in this way. An example of them are frogs, in their case they completely paralyse their heart and breathing. Even ice crystals are formed in their blood. And when spring arrives, they revive as if it were a science fiction movie.
Hedgehogs and groundhogs are other of our friends that go through this process, reducing their metabolism by up to 90% and staying that way until the temperature rises. As a curiosity, the snails go through a similar process in which they seal their shells to protect themselves from both the cold and the heat. They create a blockage with the “slime” and isolate themselves from the outside.
Finally, we must mention some snakes. In this case we are talking about the most social hibernator. They meet with hundreds of individuals in the same burrow to hibernate as a group activity.
To conclude, if we then think about what this process entails in nature… A reduction of all vital functions to survive the winter, a paralysation of any type of growth and a restriction to the organism to survive. Is this not a process very similar to that carried out by a large number of the flora around us? It clearly seems the definition of any deciduous species. We must also look at the trees that live in the forests and their survival in the harsh winter with other eyes.
