The main food source of many animals is very scarce during the wintertime. Many of these foods include insects and green plants, which are hard to find in the winter. To solve this problem, many animals hibernate. Hibernation allows them to survive the winter with little or no food because they are able to conserve energy while undergoing a deep sleep.
Many hibernating animals prepare in some way for the winter. Many animals store food in their burrows or dens in order to wake up for short periods and eat. Also, many animals, including bears, eat in the fall when food is plentiful. This food is stored into two kinds of fat; normal white fat and brown fat. Brown fat stores the most energy. The brown fat forms patches near the animals’ heart, brain and lungs in order to give these animals a quick burst of energy to warm these organs first, right after they wake up from hibernation.
Hibernating animals’ bodies change because their body temperature drops and their heat beat slows down greatly. Some animals only hibernate for a short time, depending on how severe the winter is where they live. But other animals, like the bear, can hibernate for the entire winter, never eating, drinking, or removing their wastes at all during hibernation.
There are many problems hibernating animals face. One problem is not getting enough food to use for energy during hibernation. Because many animals hibernate for very long periods of time, they need tons of fat to use for energy. Another problem is the animals getting dehydrated. Many animals get hardly any to no water or fluids for a long period of time during hibernation. A final problem animals face is having too much excess waste in their bodies. Most animals defecate about two times a day and some animals go for nearly six months without excreting wastes. But since the animal is not eating regularly, they don’t need to defecate as much. Animals that hibernate have learned to adapt to these potential problems.
