Do bears truly hibernate and sleep away the whole winter?? Learn more about torpor and what it means for bears during the cold winter months ❄️🐻💤
Video Transcript:
Yawn As the days get. colder, it’s tempting to curl up for long winter naps.
Just as bears cozy up in their dens to hibernate during the cold winter months.
But are these hibernating bears truly sleeping the whole time?
Well, not so much…
After a period of increased eating to gain fat, bears enter a hibernation–like state known as torpor, in which their heart rate and breathing slow down.
This torpor state helps bears conserve energy and survive the winter months when food is scarce.
They shift around, but do not typically engage in normal daily activities.
Female bears do, however, birth and nurse their young during this time.
Unlike true hibernators like chipmunks, deer mice, woodchucks, and ground squirrels, bears will quickly awaken in the event of danger or an attack.
Also, no two bears are the same, so the timing and duration of torpor depends on various factors
such as temperature and food availability.
In some instances, bears will not even torpor at all.
So while bears share many similarities with hibernators during the winter months, they are NOT considered true hibernators.
Defenders Of Wildlife works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America.
Defenders Of Wildlife
