Why does this work matter? Why should we care about hibernation?
Since the existence of animals, hibernation has been a way for animals to retain homeostasis during bouts of extreme cold weather. Currently, there have been changes in its hibernation habits. More and more animals go into torpor, rather than hibernation. They are responding to the environmental changes we are facing, and global warming is one of them. Animals' actions are a good predictor in climate changes and natural disasters because they act differently and it takes humans longer to figure out the reason for this. Therefore, it is vital for humans to understand hibernation because the environmental changes will affect humans to the degree where they would have to start changing its habits too.
Main points to remember
Basically, hibernation allows the chance of survival during cold periods of time where food is scarce, or lack of water supply is forcing an animal to use more energy than it can take in. Technically, only mammals hibernate; however those we have discovered the others do too. The general trend is their body temperature lowers significantly, respiratory rate and heart rate also decrease. Most animals live off of their fat supply that they gain in the fall.