Bears are the largest of all animals that sleep throughout the winter, although this can not be called real hibernation. Not for all species such a long winter sleep is typical, but mainly for brown bears, American blacks and female polar bears.
Bears that live in warm regions, sleep only in the coldest, and sometimes completely awake. Do not sleep in the winter and males polar bears.
Winter hibernation is a long deep sleep, in which the temperature, frequency of breathing and heart rate decrease significantly. Some animals fall into such hibernation in order to survive the cold and hungry winter months.
During winter sleep the body temperature of the American black bear descends from 38 ° C to 31 ° C. His breathing is slow, the heart rate drops a little. All this together helps the bear save precious energy, because in the winter he does not eat anything.
To work more fat before hibernation, the American black bear stuffs the belly with fallen acorns.
