Severe winters are one of the most difficult periods of life of animals. During such period many animals try to hide to warm places as at them the self-preservation instinct works. Especially striking example of how animals while away cold season, the hibernation of brown bears allowing them to pass all frosts and bad weather is.
Instruction
1. The winter dream is the main feature of bears and many other animals (badgers, hedgehogs, moles, frogs, reptiles, etc.) which is a peculiar measure of their protection against long and cold winters. During a winter dream the organism of animals begins the full reorganization: breath becomes rare, heartbeat slows down, and body temperature goes down. Animals fall into anabiosis.
2. If to speak about bears, then they fall into this state because do not find time to make in due time any stocks for the winter as it is done by proteins, hamsters and other animals. In spite of the fact that bears – predators of the impressive sizes, their main food during the summer period are berries, mushrooms, plants which with arrival of cold weather vanish.
3. Besides, during the summer the bears gorge on and accumulate a huge layer of subcutaneous fat which it will be enough not to want to eat during hibernation. Saved up reserve of fat allows a bear to go off to winter sleep for the whole months, without remembering severe frosts and winter hunger. Of course, the probability that under snow there will be berries or other fruits exists, however they will not be able to satisfy hunger of an animal which weight can reach half-ton. It is curious that some species of bears before "winter holidays" care for the device of the den. So, a brown bear equip the winter dwelling with branches and boughs.
4. It should be noted that not all bears go off to winter sleep only to endure hunger. For example, females of polar bears fall into hibernation, being pregnant women. It is curious that this process at polar bears can happen at all seasons of the year, but most often it happens in the winter. Polar bears do not equip the dens, they just dig out big holes in snow.
5. Curiously and the fact that bears during a winter dream suck the paw. There are several versions explaining this behavior of clumsy predators. According to the first version, the animal helps process of a molt, biting old sites of skin on a paw. The fact is that on stupnyakh bears there is quite thick layer of skin helping these animals to move on rough and uneven quicker, bears also suck them.
6. The second version says that the bear thus eats up the remains of vegetable food on a paw. The fact is that for the summer period to stupnyam this predator the huge amount of different berries, fruits, leaves, insects sticks. Over time they nataptyvatsya, dry up and turn into peculiar "dry ration" which serves as addition to a winter dream. It allows clumsy both dreams to have, and to suck berries.