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Hibernators Research Paper

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The months of winter are my favorite. The bundling of coats, the tearing of hot chocolate packets, the warmth of the fire that you crowd around with your family. For me, winter is the time where I am happiest, yet for some animals, they aren’t even awake. If an animal's main source of food is very scarce in the winter, like insects or green plants, it may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows them to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food. Most hibernators prepare in some way for the winter. Some store food in their burrows or dens, to eat when they awake for short periods. Many eat extra food in the fall while it is plentiful. It is stored as body fat to be used later for energy. Hibernators have …show more content…

An example of this is when a hibernating woodchucks heart rate slows from 80 to 4 beats per minute, and its temperature drops from 98 F to as low as 38 F. If its temperature falls too low, it will awaken slightly and shiver to warm up a bit. Other true hibernators include the jumping mouse, little brown bat, the eastern chipmunk, and some species of ground squirrels.Even a bird called the white poorwill appears to be a true hibernator. that appears to be a true hibernator. It is related to the whippoorwill and lives in the mountains of Colorado.If an animal lives in an area where the winter is mild, it may hibernate only briefly, or not at all. However, even when the weather is severe, hibernators may wake up for short periods every few weeks to use the bathroom and eat if food if the have any. Other hibernating animals do not experience major changes in temperature, heart rate and breathing. Animals such as skunks, raccoons and some chipmunks are light sleepers and are easily awakened. It is possible that they may sleep during the most severe weather and wake up to roam and eat during milder weather.The largest hibernators are the bears. Although a grizzly or black bear's heart rate may drop from a normal of 40-50 beats per minute down to 8-12, its temperature drops only slightly, …show more content…

Well, this is still the subject of research. Hibernating animals have something in their blood called Hibernation Inducement Trigger, or HIT. Recent research suggests that it is some kind of a chemical that is related to morphine. And as the days get shorter, the temperature changes, and food becomes scarce,and HIT triggers hibernation. How and why it happens are still a mystery. There are other animals that hibernate daily. Most of them are tiny warm-blooded animals that have huge energy requirements. It is difficult for some of them to consume enough food to maintain themselves. To conserve energy, animals like hummingbirds and little brown bats become sleepy for part of each

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