Hibernation

Hibernation

No Food in Winter Many places have cold winters. Some animals in these places have trouble finding food in the winter. Many animals move to warmer places to find food. Other animals hibernate.

What Is Hibernating? Hibernating is like a very sound sleep. Hibernating animals sleep for many days or weeks at a time. Animals breathe slowly when they hibernate. Their hearts beat slower, and they do not need to eat.

How Do They Stay Alive? Hibernating animals eat lots of food before winter begins. They store the food in their bodies as fat. Their bodies live off this fat while they sleep.

They also need a safe place to sleep. They need to be safe from the cold. And they need to be safe from predators that want to eat them.

Some animals, like bats, hibernate in caves. Hibernating snakes sleep underground in burrows. Frogs and turtles sleep in mud at the bottom of ponds.