Hibernation in some cases lasts up to six months. During hibernation, some species, such as the black bear (Ursus americanus), reduce the pulse from 55 beats per minute to about 9. The level of metabolism is reduced by 53%. Naturally, all this time bears do not eat, do not drink and do not waste life.
Some researchers argue that bears do not fall into suspended animation, as mentioned above. But there are also scientists who call bears “super-anabiosis”, because they do not eat, drink or defecate for six months, while remaining able to quickly get out of hibernation – this is a unique phenomenon in the animal world.
Why do not beards defecate during hibernation? Briefly, because in their body at that time a fecal plug is formed. This is a special mass that the researchers have long found in the esophagus of bears that have fallen into a hibernation.
Previously, it was believed that bears before they climb into the den eat a large amount of plant material, the wool of other bears and other materials that are not digested, and which then form a cork in the intestines of the animal. Scientists who came to this conclusion, relied heavily on information obtained from hunters for bears. Those argued that the way the food, which was mentioned above, led to “fastening of the intestines” and the animal simply could not during the sleep carry out the act of defecation.
