Black Bear Awakening From Hibernation at Zoo Looks Like a Tired Human
Spring is finally here, and that means many animals are coming out of hibernation and rejoining the world. For some, it's a happy time and the warmer weather means there's a lot more food to be found. But for others, they're just not ready to get up from their long nap just yet.
Buddy, a 19-year-old black bear who lives at the Miller Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois woke up from hibernation on Thursday, April 4th and poked his head ouf to his den to see if he'd missed anything since he'd been asleep. According to his reaction, it doesn't look like he's ready to get up just yet!
He was a mess! The black bear had hay in his hair, looked disoriented, and basically looked like what most of us tired humans look like every morning! Miller Zoo commenters couldn't help but laugh at Buddy's reaction. @Camille Gendron made me laugh when she said, "Rise and shine Buddy! LOL!"
Related: Bear Digging Out of Snow After Hibernation Is All of Us in the Morning
Bears Don't Actually Hibernate!
Billy was rescued by the zoo years ago after his left front leg was caught in an illegal trap when he was a young wild bear. The trap worked, and he is now missing his left paw, which is why he will never be able to go back to the wild. The zoo says that he now lives a very peaceful life "with us and his bear friend, Winnie." Another intersting thing about Buddy is his age; he is 19, but in the wild, black bears live an average of 10 years.
As kids, we were all taught that bears hibernate for months at a time during the winter months. You may not know this, but bears do not actually hibernate! Not in the true sense of the word, anyways. In fact, there are very few animals that actually do.
While bears do sleep more, slow down activity-wise, and eat less during winter months, they can still be found up and about looking for food and being bears. Bears and most other animals that people say hibernate actually enter a state called torpor instead. Torpor is often referred to as 'temporary hibernation' and is different from the hibernation we all think about. While it might seem like a technicality, there is a major difference: hibernation is voluntary, while torpor is an involuntary act.
Which animals actually hibernate? They include squirrels, several kinds of turtles, mice, bumblebees, and bats. When temperatures plummet, these animals choose to hibernate since they know that food will be scarce. They "bulk up" their food supplies and prepare for their hibernation in the months leading up to it.
During hibernation, their heart rate decreases, breathing slows, body temperature drops, and they enter a deep sleep for weeks or months at a time. Interestingly, some animals will come out of hibernation to eat or use the bathroom, and then go back into it. It's a survival tactic.
Torpor is different because bears go into deep sleep for much shorter amounts of time - up to a few hours or a day at most. They can still active but everything just kind of slows down. Interesting to find out that something we learned as kids turned out to be wrong!
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