Hibernating animals live on their own fat, especially the brown adipose tissue (IBAT) between the shoulder blades. This tissue is located in the shoulder and neck, and it is a very important energy source, especially when the outside temperature rises and animals wake up from hibernation for several hours.
In the second half of the awakening process, animals can raise their body temperature to a normal level by shaking their bodies (flexors and extensors contract at the same time, a high-energy action). The higher the temperature, the faster the animals breathe.
Extended data:
First, hibernating behavior
In autumn, hibernating animals have the opportunity to find hibernating places: hollow trunks and caves, which are covered with grass, straw, leaves and hair as cushions. In such a well-arranged shelter, they will curl up in groups of three or five, drooping their eyelids and spend the winter in this low-energy form-torpor (Latin: boring).
Their body temperature will drop to 1 to 9℃. All physical functions will be greatly reduced. Breathing is very weak, the heartbeat is slow, and the sensitivity to external stimuli is reduced. If you photograph a hibernating bat with an infrared camera, you will see that the bat's body is dark blue.
For example, when a groundhog hibernates, its body temperature will drop from 39℃ to 7℃. Heart rate dropped from 100 to 2 or 3 beats per minute. The breathing frequency can be extended to once every hour. Metabolites of the intestine and liver will be collected in the lower part of the intestine and excreted after waking up.
Second, hibernating animals
An animal on earth that can control its body temperature is called a warm-blooded animal. Animals whose body temperature can be regulated by the change of environmental temperature are called thermogenic animals. When winter is cold, their body temperature drops and their activities stop. At this time, their energy consumption is also reduced, so they can maintain their lives without eating food.
There are three types of hibernation. The first is the hibernation of amphibians and reptiles such as snakes and frogs, whose body temperature is in harmony with the surrounding environment. If the ambient temperature drops and the body temperature drops, it will go into hibernation and cannot be adjusted. ?
The second kind of animals, such as squirrels, usually keep their body temperature constant. During hibernation, they can lower their body temperature to the temperature close to the surrounding environment, but in order to avoid freezing body fluids below 0℃, their body temperature is maintained at around 5℃. The third kind is a bear. When a bear hibernates, its body temperature drops by only a few degrees, but it can sleep without food for a long time, which should be close to between sleep and hibernation under strict classification.
There is no difference between hibernating mammals and human organs and tissues, except that hibernating mammals can control the metabolic state of neurohormone system with special factors to regulate organs. If such genetic factors can be found, it is not impossible for humans or other animals to hibernate in the future.
In warm climate areas, the hibernating time of animals should be very short, especially the hibernating animals in zoos, which can still move freely in winter under the facilities of heat preservation and cold protection.
Therefore, to sum up, the hibernating mammals include polar squirrels, chinchillas, European Dormouse, golden hamsters, carnivorous bears, Chiroptera bats and hedgehogs, while the non-mammal hibernating animals include amphibian frogs, reptiles, snakes and turtles, and scorpions are not found in winter arthropods.
Baidu encyclopedia-hibernation