When the days get shorter and it gets colder outside, nature goes into sleep mode. The leaves of the trees change color and fall, many animals are looking for a cozy winter quarters. In this article you can find out what hibernation is and who keeps it.

Edible dormouse belong to the hibernating animals

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. What is hibernation?
  3. process and characteristics
  4. Hibernation, hibernation or hibernation?
  5. hibernation list
  6. frequently asked Questions

    7. the essentials in brief

    • Hibernation is a winter rest phase during which vital functions such as body temperature, breathing rate and metabolism decrease
    • no sleep in the true sense, since the sensory organs and brain do not go into sleep mode, but remain active
    • no continuous sleep phases, hibernating animals wake up from time to time
    • However, you should not wake up too often, as this will drain your limited fat reserves
    • Distinction between hibernation, hibernation and hibernation

    What is hibernation?

    According to the scientific definition, hibernation is not sleep - animals do not sleep because the brain and body do not have the resting modes that are typical for this phase. Paradoxically, some animals even have a sleep deficit after hibernation precisely because the brain does not rest. Instead, it is a temporary phase of life in which all life functions are severely reduced - the hibernating animal is actually closer to death than life.

    Why do some animals hibernate?

    Since there is not enough to eat in winter, many animals shut down their bodily functions in winter

    Hibernation is a strategy for both plants and animals to survive the winter months, when there is little light and food. For many animals - such as insects and thus also for insect-hunting bats or dormouse, which mostly eat buds and fruit - winter means a time without or with little food.

    They don't or aren't able to build up stores, which is why they use up more energy than they can take in without shutting down their bodily functions - the reserves eroded over the summer and fall would be used up in a short time. So hibernation keeps the animals from starving and makes them live longer.

    tips

    Did you know that hibernating animals live longer than similarly sized and heavy species that don't "sleep" in winter? For example, the dormouse, which weighs only around 130 grams, can live up to 10 years, while a mouse (which stays awake in winter) only lives two to a maximum of three years.

    process and characteristics

    "A garden managed in a way that is close to nature and without poison is the best help for hedgehogs and other wild animals."

    Scientists refer to hibernation as hibernation. The phenomenon is being intensively researched, among other things for the reason of discovering a fallow "hibernation gene" in humans. This could prove useful in future space travel, such as a trip to Mars. However, not all questions regarding hibernation have been answered to this day.

    How do animals know when to hibernate?

    Animals know when it's time to retire for hibernation

    This also includes the question of how the animals actually know when they have to go into hibernation. What is certain is that it is not the incipient lack of food and the cooler temperatures in autumn that promote the willingness to sleep, but rather the ever shorter days. The length of the day influences the appetite and thus the accumulation of fat deposits. In addition, there is a hormonal change, which gradually lowers the body temperature and breathing rate - the animal gradually slides into hibernation.

    This is what happens during hibernation

    Since energy has to be saved during hibernation, hibernators reduce all vital and energy-sapping functions to a minimum. This applies to elementary bodily functions such as

    • Move
    • temperature
    • Heartbeat
    • breathing
    • metabolism

    Hibernating animals appear as if they are dead, and in fact it is often difficult to distinguish: they are motionless, rigid, their breathing and heartbeat have drastically slowed down and only bounce a few times a minute. How extreme these changes are is illustrated by the following figures using the example of the marmot:

    • body temperature: drops from 39 °C to just seven to nine degrees Celsius
    • Heartbeat: drops from around 100 beats per minute to just two to three
    • breaths: only one or two breaths per minute instead of 50

    Hibernating bats have extremely long breathing pauses: up to 90 minutes can pass between two breaths.

    This is how animals ensure their survival during hibernation

    During hibernation, the animals lose up to 50% of their body weight

    Since the metabolism is greatly reduced in winter, but does not come to a complete standstill, the hibernating animal has to eat up a thick layer of fat over the summer and autumn months. It then feeds on this during the hibernation phase, in which they lose between 30 and 50 percent of their body weight.

    This layer of blubber also serves to raise the body temperature when needed - for example, when it drops to life-threatening levels and the hibernating animal then threatens to freeze to death. Never disturb hibernating animals, as sensory organs and vital organs still function in this state - and the animal, once awakened from hibernation prematurely, will not find enough food and will have to starve.

    duration of hibernation

    First of all: Hardly any animal hibernates continuously from autumn to spring, instead resting phases alternate with short waking phases. The sleeping periods of real hibernators last several days to weeks, in between the animals wake up, defecate or urinate or sometimes even change their sleeping place.

    However, the duration of these phases, as well as the length of hibernation, differ between the different species - as well as according to the region in which they live. For example, brown bears that live far north sleep up to seven months a year without waking up in between. In the milder climate of Central Europe, on the other hand, brown bear mothers give birth to their cubs in January - and in warmer locations or in zoos with heated bear enclosures and year-round food supply, hibernation does not even occur at all.

    In Germany, the hibernating species spend these months in hibernation:

    • Hedgehog: usually between November and April
    • dormouse: September to May with sleep periods between 20 and 29 days
    • marmots: roost up to six months a year in groups of up to 20 animals
    • field hamster: sleep between September/October to April, fairly short periods of sleep between which the animals wake up and eat from their stores.
    • dormice: sleep between October and April

    Who hibernates the longest?

    Marmots and dormouse spend the longest time in hibernation - both species sleep about six to seven months a year. The hedgehog, on the other hand, “only” lives for three to four months. Incidentally, the dormouse got its German name from its long hibernation.

    Waking up from hibernation

    When it's time to wake up, the animals probably have it in their blood

    The mechanisms that lead to waking up from hibernation in spring are just as mysterious as those that promote falling asleep in autumn. Rising ambient temperatures may be one of the relevant causes. If it gradually gets warmer outside, the body eventually releases hormones as well. These in turn ensure a slow rise in body temperature via the fatty tissue - because waking up from hibernation means warming up first and foremost.

    Once the body core temperature has finally reached at least 15 degrees Celsius, muscle tremors are added as a further measure to increase the temperature. The body is not heated evenly, instead the focus is on the head and torso. Here are the vital organs whose functionality must first be restored. The abdomen and the extremities warm up last. In many species, this process takes only a few hours - hedgehogs, for example, warm up to a core body temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius in less than a day.

    digression

    Hiding places in the garden

    So that dormouse, hedgehogs, wild bees and Co. survive the winter well, you should offer the animals hiding places in the garden for their hibernation. This can be a hedgehog house or an insect hotel (€11.33), a large pile of leaves or brushwood or simply a pile of natural stones stacked on top of one another.

    What is the difference between hibernation, hibernation and hibernation?

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    Scientists distinguish between hibernation, hibernation and hibernation. These three forms all denote a phase of winter rest - but with different characteristics and effects:

    • hibernation: is typical for mammals, characterized by a decrease in body temperature, respiratory rate and metabolism
    • hibernation: Body temperature remains unchanged, sleeping phases are interrupted by numerous waking phases in which the animals also eat, also only in mammals
    • hibernation: also referred to as cold rigidity, typical of cold-blooded animals such as reptiles, amphibians, snails and insects, here too the body temperature drops - it corresponds to the outside temperature, movement and food intake are not possible, and the body also automatically warms up when the outside temperatures are too low not possible

    In addition, one also speaks of hibernation in plants.

    Which animals hibernate in Germany - a list

    Which animals hibernate properly, which fall into rigidity and which only rest in winter is clearly listed in this table.

    hibernation Winter torpor / cold torpor hibernation
    bats insects squirrel
    Hedgehog snails Badger
    dormouse Amphibians (including frogs, toads) raccoon dog
    marmots Reptiles (including turtles, snakes, lizards) racoon
    dormice some fish brown bear
    field hamster

    Who winters where in the garden?

    You can design the garden accordingly to offer various wild animals retreats for hibernation. Hedges, meadows and a garden pond not only serve as winter quarters, but also allow the hibernators to eat a layer of fat. We have summarized for you where which animals hide in winter in this list:

    • compost heap: Common Toad
    • Heaps of leaves and brushwood, deadwood: hedgehogs and insects
    • tree stumps: Insects
    • cairns and dry stone walls: insects, reptiles, amphibians
    • floor: Insects (solitary bees, ants), amphibians, some mammals (dormouse)
    • garden pond: amphibians (frogs), dragonflies (on plant stems)

    Birds, on the other hand, do not hibernate, but they also need food during the cold season. In addition to a bird feeder, provide the animals with fruit-bearing trees and bushes (e.g. wild and ornamental apples, cornel, honeysuckle, rowan, blackthorn, etc.).

    digression

    Plants in hibernation

    Incidentally, not only animals hibernate, many plants also go into cold mode. This is why deciduous trees shed their leaves in autumn so as not to die of thirst in the winter months and to survive any frost. You can bring your geraniums out of hibernation by simply planting them again and placing them in a bright place - if they have been in the dark and overwintered without soil.

    frequently asked Questions

    Are there also birds that hibernate?

    No, there is no bird species that hibernates. Instead, many birds move to warmer regions in autumn, which, however, do not necessarily have to be in the "south". These species do not return until spring. Others, however, such as tits, nuthatches or crows stay here over the winter months but remain awake and agile.

    Do insects hibernate too? Which species do this and how?

    Butterflies remain in a state of hibernation throughout the winter

    Some insects, such as the Painted Lady, migrate to warmer places like birds do over the winter. However, many other species - butterflies as well as beetles, bees, bumblebees, wasps, dragonflies and ants - do hibernate, although this is somewhat different than that of mammals. In the case of bumblebees, for example, only the young queens, who found a new court the following year, overwinter, in the case of other species only eggs, larvae and pupae survive the cold season.

    By the way: If you find apparently lifeless ladybugs in the apartment in winter, they are not dead. They are hibernating and should definitely be left alone.

    Do my turtles need hibernation too?

    Strictly speaking, turtles don't hibernate, they hibernate. Depending on the species and origin of the animals, this must last at least eight weeks or up to five months. Healthy animals fall into hibernation all by themselves, with tortoises usually digging in. From the beginning of March, they gradually wake up again.

    Is it true that turtles can be hibernated in the fridge?

    In fact, you can keep your tortoise in a - separate! - Hibernate the refrigerator. What sounds strange actually has advantages for the animals: the temperature here is always a constant four to six degrees, which is ideal for hibernation, and the hibernating tortoises are protected from enemies. It is best to pack the animal in a sufficiently large box filled with earth, moss and beech leaves, which you in turn place in the lower area of the refrigerator.

    I found a hedgehog. How do I know if he's hibernating or dead?

    It is not possible to distinguish a dead hedgehog from a hibernating hedgehog at first glance. A hibernating hedgehog has a body temperature of only about five degrees Celsius and breathes only three to four times a minute. However, you can tell dead hedgehogs apart by these characteristics:

    • hibernating hedgehogs are completely rolled up, nose and feet cannot be seen
    • on the other hand, you can see the soft body parts of dead hedgehogs
    • carefully stroke the spines: if they then straighten up again, the hedgehog is only sleeping
    • dead hedgehogs have their spines down
    • Smell of decay indicates a dead animal

    tips

    Some people also dream of simply sleeping through the dark season. But did you know that hibernation literally makes you stupid? This is shown by experiments in which animals learned before hibernation (e.g. finding their way out of a maze) were no longer able to retrieve them afterwards.

Category:

Animals in the garden