10 Animals That Hibernate In Winter

Ipsita Bhattacharya
Dec 21, 2023

What Is Hibernation?

Hibernation is the condition or period when an animal spends the winter in a dormant state when there are little or no activities. Animals hibernate to save energy during periods of unfavourable weather conditions or food shortages.

Bear

They are truly the kings and queens of hibernation! Bears can reportedly go for 100 days or so without needing to wake to consume or pass anything.

Arctic Ground Squirrel

To deal with the extremely harsh winters, the Arctic ground squirrels reportedly hibernate for about eight months out of the year.

Hedgehog

When the colder months arrive, hedgehogs - who eat a wide range of insects during warmer months - find it tough to find food. Many hibernate to preserve energy until the weather turns warmer.

Wood Frog

During freezing winters, wood frogs just get very cold and slow down. They are found mostly in North America and miraculously, they remain frozen during hibernation!

Bat

Come winter, most bats go into a period of deep sleep (or torpor). They hang upside down even when they hibernate.

Snail

Not all snails will hibernate in winter but some snails do. It depends on their species as to how long they will hibernate.

Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs

Endemic to Madagascar, the wild fat-tailed dwarf lemur is the only primate in the world known to hibernate for a long period of time. They store fat in their tails from what they ate in the warmer months and live off that when they hibernate.

Chipmunk

As their body temperatures drop significantly in winter, chipmunks sleep heavily through winter, waking occasionally for food. Come springtime, and they are active again.

Bumblebee

Not all bees, but bumblebees hibernate in winter. As the weather turns colder, the drones (male bees) and worker bees die while the young queens feed intensively to build up stores of fat for the winter. They survive in hibernation, generally below ground, until the weather warms up in the spring.

Snake

While the length of dormancy depends on location, all snakes hibernate to some extent in winter. Sometimes, they wake up and move out of their hibernating spots to hydrate.

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