Why do Animals Hibernate?

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• published: 15 Aug 2016
• views: 1546

In this video we basically talk about why animals hibernate, the hibernation process, and debunk the myth on bear hibernation... It is more of a scientific video today... Next up is another scientific question or I might go back to cryptozoology... :D Animals including wood frogs, ground squirrels, skunks, bats, hedgehogs, and of course, bears hibernate (well, sort of, I’ll get into that later). But just why do they do it? Why do they hibernate? A few animals have evolved hibernation, an adaptation that lets them spend long periods of time in a dormant state. When an animal hibernates, the animal’s heart and breathing rates become slower, and its body temperature drops. Days or Weeks may pass and the creature still hasn’t eaten, nor drank anything. Bears, don’t really hibernate, they sleep more in the winter than in summer, but they don’t reach the deep sleep level of hibernation. Before hibernation, animals feed a lot of food when it is abundant and grow some fat, then burn that fat off and live off of those fat reserves. Hibernation is a bit like death, and is not too similar to ordinary sleep. When an animal is hibernating, all life activity almost ceases. It is like battery saver, but a natural battery saver. The body temperature of the animal drops until it is only a bit warmer than the air of its hiding spot. Because of this temperature, food stored in animals’ bodies extremely slowly. Since they burn less fuel, they don’t need too much oxygen, as a consequence they breathe slower and their heart beats a lot less. If the den’s temperature drops a lot more, the sleepy animal wakes up, digs itself a hole a bit deeper, and continues its lengthy sleep. When spring arrives, the drowsy animals wake up due to the change in moisture, temperature, and by hunger. They leave their dens and continue on with their lives. Endothermic animals or warm-blooded animals that generate body heat internally, need a constant energy source to stay alive and survive, when this becomes too hard, hibernation can help them prevent these harsh conditions. That’s all we have for today, thanks for watching! Leave a like if you enjoyed the video and I’ll see you in the next one! Further Reading/Sources: http://www.livescience.com/54982-why-do-animals-hibernate.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation http://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/hibernation.html http://www.conservationinstitute.org/10-animals-that-hibernate/ Social Media ↓ Subscribe► http://goo.gl/oCDyoS Follow me on Google+► http://goo.gl/6eYFnC Follow me on Twitter► https://twitter.com/MadWizard38 Like me on Facebook► https://www.facebook.com/Madwizard38/?ref=hl -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Australia's Bigfoot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMAtNQ3WW-I -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-