What is Hibernation?
Hibernation is a mechanism that many animals use to survive long periods of cold temperatures and shortage of food. It is characterized by the reduction in metabolic processes which lead to a decrease in body temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate for an extended amount of time (several months). unlike reptiles who brumate, hibernating animals depend on fat reserves so they will typically gorge themselves for the months preceding the hibernating season and will lose body fat over the course of the winter.
What is the difference between Hibernation, Brumation, and Torpor?
Brumation: is when reptiles go dormant. it is considered slightly different from hibernation due to metabolic differences, where they still require water intake and so they must occasionally "wake up" to drink water. because of this reptiles usually do not lose very much body fat.
Torpor: because For hibernation and brumation, the metabolism of the animal drop significantly. However, it is different from hibernation in the way that the periods of dormacy are not as long as they are with hibernating animals. For example, such as chipmunk and the poorwill, have reported to do both depending on the temperature and the food availability in their climate.