Hello, our dear moms and dads! We continue the autumn theme and today we will tell children about the life of animals in the fall.

In autumn, animals prepare for the harshest time of the year - winter. The life of furry, feathered and other inhabitants of forests, fields, city parks, and squares depends on how this preparation goes.

Insects are among the first to react to weather changes.

Most of them are looking for cozy shelters in which they can sleep all winter. They find these shelters under fallen leaves, under bark that has fallen away from a tree trunk, in the cracks of houses.

But butterflies turn into pupae and thus wait out the cold winter.

Lizards, snakes, frogs, and toads are also in a hurry to leave for the winter. Brown grass frogs and green frogs in the fall stay closer to bodies of water, at the bottom of which they overwinter. Toads seek shelter on land: under the roots of trees, in the burrows of small rodents.

In the fall, lizards climb deeper into their burrows, under moss, into fallen leaves, under tree roots, into rotten stumps.

When the cold comes and the insects disappear, migratory birds- swallows, swifts, flycatchers - begin to prepare for travel to warm countries.

Forest animals also begin to prepare for winter. Some of them begin to eat a lot so that fat will form under their skin, which will warm the animal well in the winter cold. For example, bears and badgers. Many forest inhabitants make provisions for the winter (squirrels, mice, moles) and prepare winter housing.

In the fall, many animals begin to shed - they grow a warm undercoat, and the fur changes its color.

The white hare's entire fur coat becomes white, and only the tips of the ears are black, while the brown hare's fur coat becomes lighter only on the sides.

By winter, the squirrel turns gray, exchanging its bright fiery red coat for a more inconspicuous one in winter period.

When snow appears and the weather gets colder, some animals hibernate. Such animals include hedgehogs and bears, which cannot feed themselves in the winter.

That's all for today. Soon a presentation on the topic “Animal Life in Autumn” will appear at Yasny Solnyshok.

Also, you can get my free book.

Sincerely.
Elena Medvedeva.

Autumn. Plants and animals getting ready for winter. "Dying" of nature in autumn - preparation for next spring. It is interesting to watch the movement of the sun during the day. The sunrise and sunset points move closer to the south. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer. Air and soil temperatures are getting lower. The soil is saturated with water, but due to the low temperature it is poorly absorbed by plant roots. There are no longer light cumulus clouds in the sky, low, stratus clouds predominate. Plants in frosty air evaporate very little moisture. This is what gives them the opportunity to survive in winter. The leaves of spruce, pine, fir, thuja, and juniper are needle-shaped and scaly, hard, leathery. They have a small surface and weakly evaporate water. Therefore, they successfully tolerate winter drought. Evergreen shrubs have leaves that last for more than a year. Pine needles last two years, spruce needles last from five to twelve years and do not fall off immediately. Some angiosperms do not shed all their leaves in the fall, retaining them until next spring. These are lingonberries, heather, wild rosemary, cassandra, andromeda and other plants of peat bogs. Their overwintering leaves unfurl in the spring and persist until the next leaves emerge. Such shrubs are called evergreen. The last mushroom pickers left the forest. And winter has more than once tried to try on a white outfit on the frozen earth. And in the forest you can still see small grayish butterflies with dark thin stripes on their wings. These are Winter moths. It gets a little warmer - and, like a dry leaf caught by the wind, they flash among the dark spruce paws. And a cold wind blows - they will press themselves against the bark, freeze in a daze and become invisible. Moth caterpillars damage more than a hundred species of plants. In addition to the winter moth, just recently in October another, larger and brighter butterfly was seen - the skinned moth. This moth, like the winter moth, only males fly, and the female skinned moths have no wings at all. It is difficult to recognize representatives of the order Lepidoptera in these strange wingless creatures. It is surprising to encounter a butterfly in a cold forest on the threshold of winter. But if you watch a flock of tits or other insectivorous birds, you can find shelters not only of butterflies. In the silence of the forest, the slightly creaky and drawn-out voice of a pika was heard. This is how this bird finds food. The pike descends onto the trunk near the ground and, having examined the butt, picking up moss or lichens with its thin beak, like a curved awl, it begins to deftly crawl upward in a spiral. She presses her white silky belly to the bark and rests on her hard stepped tail. Having sometimes reached almost the very top of the head, the pika flies to the foot of the next tree, and everything starts all over again. What did she find near the ground? Like green velvet, moss covered the hard bark and hid the cracks and wrinkles of the old tree. You will unscrew a piece of moss, examine it carefully and you will almost certainly find either a small, numb but living spider, or some kind of beetle or centipede. Or you might come across a light birch seed stuck to the moss - this is also food for the birds remaining in the winter. On the south side, where there was less moss, a small brownish spot on the trunk becomes lighter. This is a clutch of gypsy moth eggs pecked by birds. Butterflies have adapted to endure winter in different ways. Few of them overwinter as adults, hiding in barns, caves, deep cracks, or crawling under fallen leaves. Typically, either caterpillars, pupae or egg laying hibernate. The gypsy moth does not survive until autumn. At the height of summer, in the second half of July, large whitish-cream butterflies with dark streaks on their wings could be seen on many trees in Moscow parks. Butterflies sat at the foot of lindens, poplars, pines and other trees, or even just on the walls of houses and fences. They did not fly, did not crawl from place to place, but sat motionless. They could be easily picked up, and they did not try to fly away. These were female Gypsy moths. I chose one of the butterflies, clean and with the clearest pattern on the wings, apparently just released. from a cocoon, and brought it home, intending to make a drawing from life. Having placed the butterfly on a sheet of gray paper and left it on the table, he began to wait for it to calm down and fold its wings into a hut, as many moths usually sit. But this one turned out to be something special. She half-opened her wings and sat there, not wanting to take the pose I wanted. Half a day passed and nothing had changed, and I was already thinking about going for another model. But here in open door A light-winged, bushy-moustached male gypsy bird fluttered into the air from the balcony in broad daylight. He was significantly smaller than his chosen one. The wings of his soft brown tone covered with a thick dark pattern. The lower wings are also brown, but much lighter than the upper ones and with sparse and paler streaks. He circled the room, trying to locate the female. It took him no more than ten minutes to do this. After that, he sank onto a gray sheet and found himself next to his girlfriend. Download from the site >>

Tags for this article: Animals, Entertaining stuff

Elvira Rakhimova
Autumn changes in the lives of animals.

Program content: Give children an initial realistic understanding of wild training animals for winter. (The bear makes a den in a dry place.

The hedgehog makes a nest for itself in a hole, where it falls asleep, buried in autumn leaves which it brings on its needles.

The squirrel makes supplies by burying nuts and acorns under the roots of trees, and dries mushrooms on tree branches.

The white hare changes its coat to white, so it becomes invisible in winter.)

Develop the ability to understand the simplest relationships in nature (It became cold, the lives of wild animals change) . Cultivate interest in local animals.

Vocabulary work: Lead into the passive dictionary “den”, “nest”, into the active “wild” animals".

Individual work: Teach Nikita and Sasha to listen carefully and pronounce words.

Equipment: paper, bunny (toy) pictures of animals(hedgehog, squirrel, bear, hare) magnetic board, model of the protective color of a hare.

Progress of the lesson.

Guys, sit down on the chairs more comfortably. (There's a knock on the door). Children, someone has come to us. I'll go and have a look (I bring in a toy). Who is this? Yes, it's a bunny. The bunny offers to guess where he came from. (Answer children: He came from the forest.)

Paints early in the morning

The sun is the edge of heaven

Self-assembled tablecloth

Spreads the forest

Enough treats

He has it for everyone

Sweet roots,

Honey, mushrooms, nuts.

What is this poem about? Where did the bunny come from?

Our guest doesn't know what to do wild animals during the cold season? Children, let's help the bunny, tell him about life of wild animals in the forest. And “Magic TV” will help us with this (demonstrating a magnetic board). Guys, call the wild ones animals who live in the forest (children's answers). Do you know why they are called wild? (children's answers). That's right, because they live in the forest, get their own food, and build houses. Let's say it again - "Wild" animals". (Repeat Masha, Lena). Now I’ll tell you a riddle, and you listen carefully.

"The bushy tail sticks out from the top of the head

What is this strange little animal?

Cracks the nuts finely.

Well of course it is. " (Squirrel)

That's right, it's a riddle about a squirrel. Look at the magic TV screen. What does a squirrel do in summer? That's right, she collects mushrooms throughout the forest and makes supplies. Hides them in a hollow tree; nuts, acorns, berries. A squirrel dries its supplies on branches.

Now I’ll tell you another riddle.

"He sleeps in a den in winter,

Under a huge pine tree,

And when spring comes,

He will wake up from his sleep" (Bear)

That's right, a bear. Look at the magic TV screen. What is the bear doing? That's right, he eats raspberries. Why in autumn the bear eats a lot? (children's answer) That's right, he eats a lot to store fat. Then he looks for a dry place under the roots of trees and makes a den for himself. Children, why does a bear build a den for himself? (falls asleep for the winter). The bear sleeps in winter because he is big, he needs a lot of food, and in winter it is cold, there is snow everywhere. difficult to find food. Now listen to a riddle about another animal. Listen carefully and try to guess.

"The ears are long, the tail is as big as a finger

And his name is" (bunny)

Look at the screen of our magical TV. Who do you see? (I show a picture of a white and gray hare). At what time of year can a hare wear a gray coat? That's right, spring and summer. But the leaves have turned yellow, it gets cold, sometimes it snows, what kind of fur coat does a bunny need? (I listen to the children’s suggestions) What do you think Polina? Why in winter, when it’s cold, everything is covered with snow, the bunny needs a white coat so that neither the wolf nor the fox notices him. (I demonstrate a model of protective coloration) What should you do in winter to avoid freezing? You need to move a lot.

Physical exercise!

The hares jump hop-hop-hop.

Yes, on a little white snow.

They sit down and listen.

Is there a wolf coming?

Unbent and unbent.

Two, he bent down and stretched.

Three - three claps of your hands.

Three nods of the head.

Well done boys! You turned out to be clever and mischievous bunnies! Sit on the chairs. Guys, listen carefully and say carefully and tell me about whom This is a mystery.

"The master sewed himself a fur coat

I forgot to take out the needles

But he doesn't care at all

Even though he sleeps on needles. (hedgehog)

That's right hedgehog. Look at the magic TV screen. What does a hedgehog do in autumn? (children's answer) Surely he is making a nest for himself. To keep the nest warm, he carries dry leaves on his needles. It will curl up into a ball, roll on the yellow leaves and carry them to its nest. Here he will sleep until spring.

Now tell the bunny who changes his fur coat for the winter (children's answers) That's right, hare. Who sleeps sleeps until spring (children's answers) That's right, hedgehog and bear. Who is preparing supplies for the winter? (children's answers). That's right squirrel. Now the bunny will know how wild animals are preparing for winter. The bunny says thank you, and it’s time for him to return to the forest. Goodbye bunny (I put the toy away). Well done children! Today you answered questions well, were attentive and active.

Publications on the topic:

Thematic walk “Changes in nature in winter”(excursion) Goal: development of observation skills in children, a sense of empathy, love and interest in their native nature. Excursion: Today is our excursion.

Goal: to identify and consolidate the acquired knowledge, ideas, skills that children received during school year. Tasks. Educational.

Complex lesson “Conversation about the life of wild animals and birds in the winter forest” goal: To give children an idea of ​​the life of forest animals and birds in winter, to teach them to observe natural objects in winter. Raise caring people.

Summary of educational activities for developing children's knowledge about the life of wild animals “Visiting forest dwellers” Program content. Objectives: 1. Continue to develop a system of knowledge about the life of wild animals in winter. 2. Develop visual skills.

Abstract of the GCD “Spring. Seasonal changes in nature" Summary of GCD Topic: “Spring. Seasonal changes in nature" Purpose: to clarify and expand children's knowledge on the topic "Spring"; expand and intensify.

The world and environment in which modern children are growing up arouses their natural interest in various natural phenomena and their desire to immediately.

Educational area: Cognitive development. Introduction to the natural world. Seasonal changes - “Golden Autumn” Reception decoration.

Organization of direct educational activities for children in the preparatory group


Seasonal periodicity is one of the most common phenomena in living nature. It is especially pronounced in temperate and northern latitudes. At the heart of the seemingly simple and well-known seasonal phenomena in the world of organisms are complex adaptive reactions of a rhythmic nature, which have been elucidated relatively recently. As an example, consider seasonal periodicity in the central regions of our country. Here, the annual temperature variation is of leading importance for plants and animals. The period favorable for life lasts about six months.

Seasonality is a general phenomenon in living nature, caused by changes in factors of inanimate nature throughout the year. This phenomenon is especially pronounced in the regular change of seasons in temperate and northern latitudes. In spring and summer, most animals reproduce, give birth, and by the end of summer and autumn they are preparing to endure winter conditions.

Signs of spring appear as soon as the snow begins to melt. Some willows, alders, and hazels begin to bloom before their leaves have even bloomed; in the thawed areas, even through the snow, the sprouts of the first spring plants are breaking through; migratory birds arrive; Overwintered insects appear.

In mid-summer, despite favorable temperatures and plenty of precipitation, the growth of many plants slows down or stops completely. The number of flowering plants decreases. Bird breeding ends. The second half of summer and early autumn is the period of ripening of fruits and seeds in most plants and accumulation of nutrients in their tissues. At this time, signs of preparation for winter are already visible. Autumn molting begins in birds and mammals, and migratory birds gather in flocks.

Even before the arrival of stable frosts, a period of winter dormancy begins in nature.

State of winter dormancy

Winter dormancy is not just a cessation of development caused by low temperature, but a very complex physiological adaptation. In each species, the state of winter dormancy occurs only at a certain stage of development.
The overwintering stages of plants and animals have many similar physiological features. The metabolic rate is significantly reduced. The tissues of organisms in a state of winter dormancy contain many reserve nutrients, especially fats and carbohydrates, due to which reduced metabolic processes are maintained during wintering. Usually the amount of water in tissues decreases, especially in seeds and winter buds of plants. Thanks to all these features, the resting stages are able to survive harsh wintering conditions for a long time.

Adaptations of cold-blooded animals for wintering

Cold-blooded animals (for example, insects, amphibians, reptiles) endure the winter in an inactive state of winter dormancy. Changes occur in their body, which begin well in advance in the summer. By autumn, their reserves of nutrients increase, due to which their metabolism is maintained at a slower pace. The amount of water in their cells decreases. Despite this preparedness, many cold-blooded animals spend the winter in shelters where the harsh winter conditions are less severe.

Adaptations of warm-blooded animals for wintering

Warm-blooded animals - birds and mammals. They have less ability to hypothermia than cold-blooded animals. Their constant body temperature is ensured by their high metabolic rate. To maintain the temperature at the same level, they develop such features as heat-insulating covers (down, feathers, hair), fat deposits, etc. To reduce heat transfer in winter conditions, they undergo autumn molting - a change in summer fur in mammals and plumage in birds to a thicker, winter one.

Warm-blooded animals do not enter a state of winter dormancy if they can feed themselves during the winter. Mammals that are unable to obtain food in winter conditions hibernate. Hibernation is a state of decreased vital activity that occurs in warm-blooded animals in cases where food becomes inaccessible and maintaining high activity and intensive metabolism is impossible. Before hibernation, animals accumulate nutrients in the body, mainly fats up to 40% of body weight, and settle into a shelter.

Birds that are unable to provide themselves with food in winter conditions fly to warmer regions, where they find abundant food.

Study of seasonal phenomena

The science of phenology studies the patterns of periodic seasonal changes in the life of plants and animals; observations of the onset of these phenomena are called phenological. The essence of these observations is to monitor the progress of seasonal phenomena and record the dates of their onset, and in some cases, their end. Based on long-term phenological observations, local history organizations compile nature calendars that reflect the time of onset of seasonal phenomena in a particular area.

Trees in autumn. Photo: Mike Nielsen

The Importance of Studying Seasonal Phenomena

The need to study seasonal phenomena arose in humans a long time ago in connection with the development of agriculture, fishing, and hunting.

By annually determining the dates of the onset of seasonal changes and comparing them with the time of agricultural work, it is possible to establish the best timing for cultivating the soil and sowing seeds, thereby increasing the yield. So, for example, according to the agrobiological station named after K. A. Timiryazev, greatest harvest Cucumbers are obtained by sowing them during the flowering of purple lilac and yellow acacia. The best time to sow turnips is when aspen blooms.

Parallel observations of the development of plants and the insects that feed on them make it easier to establish the timing of pest control of cultivated plants.

Phenological observations provide rich factual material that serves as proof of Charles Darwin’s doctrine of natural selection and helps to understand the essence of the basic law of biology - the unity of the organism and its necessary living conditions. Observations broaden a person’s horizons, increase his interest and love for nature. At the same time, they do not require complex equipment and are accessible to anyone.



If the environment in which an animal lives is subject to slight fluctuations, then the adaptations of organisms to it are to a certain extent static.

Thus, the fur of tropical animals is sparse, short, and stiff, while that of polar animals is thick, long, and soft. Polar bears do not change their color, as they spend their entire lives among the ice. Desert animals - lion, camel, antelope, snakes - are colored like sand, in tropical forests the green color of animals predominates, many marine organisms are transparent, etc.

But if an aspect of the landscape changes with the seasons, then adaptations to the landscape become dynamic, changing periodically. And this change, more clearly than anything else, proves the unconditional dependence of organisms on the environment. However, this dependence is no less clear in cases where there is no change: cave animals do not have seasonal periodicity in life cycles, and this is quite natural, since in caves there is no division of the year into seasons.

The adaptations of animals to seasonal changes in nature are very diverse. They are expressed in the storage of food for the winter (bees, some rodents), in the construction of warm winter homes, burrows and nests, in the acquisition of new physiological properties, in a change of habitat, in the phenomena of hibernation, etc.

Due to changes in temperature and the acquisition of a new aspect by the landscape, the nature of the integument and their color change in animals. The more pronounced the change of seasons in the landscape, the more pronounced is the shedding of outer covers and their replacement with new ones (molting). In the tropics, the change of fur and feathers occurs gradually throughout the year; in cold countries it is confined to certain seasons. By winter, the fur becomes thicker, fluffier, longer, and a fat layer forms under the skin. The color of the animal also changes: the hare is white in winter, piebald in spring, dark brown in summer; chestnut color weasels turn snowy white in winter; the same thing happens with arctic foxes, ermines, etc., exchanging their dark summer robes for a protectively colored mantle, allowing the animal to completely merge with the white background of the winter landscape.

Migration or migration of animals should be considered a widespread seasonal adaptation. Some migrations, it is true, do not have a strictly periodic character, but the timing of others to the seasons is not subject to the slightest doubt.

Animals often migrate in search of food. For example, lemmings, when they multiply strongly, and there is little plant food in a given area, because it has been eaten by the lemmings themselves, the bean goose, or has become inaccessible due to amber ice, begin to move in huge numbers to other places. The movement of nomadic lemmings occurs with exceptional uncontrollability: they cross rivers and die in droves from exhaustion and predators.

Antelopes migrate in herds from dry and burnt grassy expanses to places where there is water and fresh greenery. When there is a shortage of pine nuts, Siberian squirrels move to other forests. In the spring, reindeer migrate north from the southern edge of the tundra; One of the reasons for this is the desire to get rid of vileness.

Animal migrations caused by a lack of food or overpopulation, although they do not fit strictly into the framework of seasonal phenomena, are nevertheless quite often connected in one way or another with seasonal changes in the landscape.

Classic examples of typically seasonal migrations are the fall of worms deep into the soil (where it does not freeze), fish migrations, bird migrations, etc.

Fish migrations are most often associated with spawning, i.e., the process of spawning. Instinct gathers fish into huge schools and forces them to make huge movements. There are fish that spawn annually or every other year, every two years, but there are those that spawn only once in their lives: eel, chum salmon, pink salmon, red salmon, many genera of gobies, the vast majority of salmon, etc.

The phenomenon of migration is especially pronounced in migratory fish, i.e. those that live in the sea, but rise hundreds of kilometers into rivers to spawn. Salmon, or salmon, annually enters our northern rivers from the sea to spawn. The young spend two to three years in rivers, then move to the sea, where they live from one to five years, and then go to rivers to spawn.

Salmon usually dies after spawning, but there are cases when individual individuals spawn two or three times in their lives and even, as a rare exception, up to five times.

Particularly interesting are the migrations of the European river eel (Anguilla vulgaris). This eel lives in the rivers and lakes of Europe. Having reached sexual maturity (this takes several years), it goes out to sea (usually in the fall), then into the Atlantic Ocean and heads to that part of it called the Sargasso Sea. This is where spawning occurs at depths. Larvae develop from fertilized eggs - small, transparent, fish-like, but so unlike eels that they for a long time considered a special animal - Leptocephalus brevirostris. These leptocephali, undergoing metamorphosis and increasing in size, wander from the Sargasso Sea to Europe for three years. Only at the end of the third year do they transform into small eels, after which they penetrate into the rivers.

Most birds in temperate countries fly to warmer regions for the winter and return back in the spring. Geese, swans, wagtails, ducks, larks, cuckoos, cranes, etc. fly away. Only a few predatory animals remain, as well as some granivores - sparrows, buntings, black grouse.

Before leaving, the birds gather in flocks, and these flocks no longer break up in their wintering areas.

The natural order of autumn flight is that insectivorous birds fly away first, then granivorous birds, i.e. birds fly away in the order of disappearance of the corresponding food. The departure of birds of this species takes a long time: it lasts for weeks. Birds often fly in a certain “formation”: ducks side by side, geese one after another, cranes in a wedge, etc. Some species migrate during the day, but the vast majority fly at night, leaving the day for rest on land.

Birds fly not particularly hastily, with stops, feeding along the way and resting. Some of them fly only 30 kilometers a day, others about 200 km. Stops along the way sometimes last for several days. Thus, the flight from the starting point to the final point takes quite a long time. At the same time, the speed of flight is sometimes very significant, and the duration of the flight in some cases is extremely short. Starlings fly at a speed of 60-80 km per hour, plovers 65-80 km, geese 70-90, swifts up to 110 km. Birds can fly for many hours without rest, and, for example, one flock of lapwings flew from England to Newfoundland in 1927 (although under strong conditions tailwind) in one day, covering a distance of 3500 km.

Favorite wintering places for Eurasian birds are India and Egypt. But the birds are from northern Asia they fly to Arabia, Iran, India, China, even to Australia, from Europe to Africa, Asia Minor. Rooks and storks winter on the Nile, nightingales, robins, swallows, cuckoos in central Africa, eagles in Egypt, pink starling and Siberian warbler in India, red-breasted goose from northwestern Siberia - in the southern part of the Caspian Sea, etc.

It is important to note that birds do not fly to their wintering places randomly, but follow certain paths, which for a given species remain the same from year to year. The flight paths of several species of birds may coincide at one distance or another. Some birds fly along sea shores, others along rivers, over lakes and swamps, while others fly over land and are not connected to water spaces. In all these cases, the birds move along the path whose character is closest to the character of their native habitat or on which they can most easily find food that is familiar to them. Thus, birds inhabiting sea coasts also stick to sea coasts when migrating. Since the choice of route is largely determined by the nature of the food, it is not surprising that some birds fly different roads in spring and autumn: they return home by a different route than they left home. This change is due to a change in feed.

In wintering areas, birds do not make nests and do not hatch chicks. If the autumn departure of birds of a given species lasts for several weeks, then the arrival back to their native places usually ends in a few (not more than ten) days. Maybe this is because departure depends on the weather, but arrival does not. The return of birds home within a more or less certain period of time cannot be explained simply by “migratory instinct.” This phenomenon is more complex and it probably took a very long time to develop. Birds often return to poor conditions when there is still snow in their homeland. Snow melts in different years different time, and the arrival occurs annually at approximately the same times, and this discrepancy often causes the death of returning birds. An external impetus for flight in the fall is a decrease in food due to deteriorating thermal conditions. A drop in air temperature is a harbinger of an impending lack of food for birds. The main motivating reason for the return spring flight to their native places is the instinct of reproduction.

The essence of such adaptation to the environment as migration (periodic or non-periodic) comes down to the fact that the animal avoids unfavorable conditions by moving itself to another landscape. This is like an adaptation along the line of least resistance. Something else has a completely different character seasonal adaptation, namely, animal hibernation, or a state of torpor in which an animal spends an unfavorable period for life within its habitat.

This adaptation arose in the process of evolution in a variety of forms and in various parts of the world. It, like the migration of animals, is stimulated by a lack of food, and the harbinger of this impending shortage, serving as a kind of signal directly inducing the body to hibernation, is a decrease in external temperature in our latitudes, and in the tropics drought, drying out of reservoirs, and a decrease in the water content in food. In accordance with this they distinguish hibernation, when the animal falls into torpor during the period of prevailing low temperatures, and summer hibernation, which is confined to the dry season.

The ecology of hibernating animals is characterized primarily by a limited period active life. They reproduce less frequently than animals that do not hibernate (mammals no more than once a summer, while closely related forms that do not hibernate produce two or three generations per year), but their total number fluctuates less , how total number animals, although more productive, are not subject to hibernation: hibernation protects against unfavorable conditions and infectious diseases.

During hibernation, the animal spends many months without food. This, of course, is only possible with an extreme slowdown in vital functions. Life processes are reduced to a minimum, and the body feeds on reserves deposited within itself. A waking marmot takes 1,500 inhalations per hour, but during hibernation only 14, i.e. a hundred times less. Consequently, during hibernation, oxidation, and therefore the destruction of tissues, is greatly slowed down, so less food is required to restore them. As a result of slower breathing and the almost complete absence of muscle work, i.e., due to the elimination of sources of animal heat, the body temperature of a sleeping animal is greatly reduced.

The duration of hibernation varies greatly. Chipmunks, dormice, squirrels sleep for two to three months, hedgehogs for four to five months, the bats and marmots are six months old, and mountain marmots are seven to eight months old.

Mammals spend winter hibernation in burrows, dens, hollows and other shelters. They fall into immobility and deep numbness. Their body temperature drops almost to the temperature of the air around them, exceeding the latter by only a few degrees. Breathing becomes not only slowed down by five to ten times or more, but also irregular: after five to eight breaths there is a pause of several minutes. Oxygen consumption and CO 2 emissions sharply decrease, the heart beats 10-30 times less often than that of an animal in an active state. The composition of the blood changes due to an increase in CO 2 content and a decrease in sugar content. Since the body consumes the reserves of fat accumulated before hibernation, the animal gradually loses weight, and its growth stops: if the hair or claws are cut, they do not grow during hibernation and begin to grow back only after the animal awakens. In a state of torpor, the body is not susceptible to infectious diseases, even if it was infected before hibernation.

Lizards and snakes hibernate in moss, in crevices, and in burrows, and many snakes hibernate together. Carp, crucian carp and catfish burrow into the mud at the bottom and lie there motionless. Sturgeon, sterlet, and beluga spend the winter in the same torpor.

For invertebrate animals, hibernation is best studied in insects. Many diurnal butterflies (urticaria, mourning moth) hibernate as an adult insect under the bark and in tree hollows; other butterflies overwinter in the egg, larvae, and pupa stages. Ladybugs sleep for five to seven months under fallen leaves, bark, stones, female wasps and bumblebees in their burrows and nests, ants in the underground part of their anthills, etc. The body of a torpid insect takes on the temperature of the surrounding air, and the water content in the body decreases .

The main source that supports the life (extremely slow) of an insect in hibernation is the supply of fat. If this supply is small, the insect will inevitably die. Therefore, for example, a bee that has no fat reserves at all can live in hibernation for only five to nine days. Generally speaking, the mortality rate of hibernating insects is very high, and relatively few survive the winter in a state of torpor.

In our latitudes, the number of animal species that hibernate in winter is many times greater than the number of species that remain awake during the winter. Of the invertebrates, mollusks, crustaceans, arachnids, and insects become numb for the winter; of vertebrates, fish (although not all species), amphibians (frogs, toads, newts), reptiles (lizards, snakes, turtles), some mammals, for example almost all species bats, hedgehogs, many rodents (dormouse, jerboas, gophers, marmots), badger, Brown bear etc. Birds do not hibernate at all.

Summer hibernation is typical for animals in tropical regions with a pronounced dry period. But this phenomenon is also expressed in temperate latitudes. Many species of ground squirrels in North America hibernate during the summer due to their drying out. plant food. In Europe, rotifers living in moss dry out and become numb when the moss dries. But as soon as the rain falls or the dew settles, they come to life again. Thus, hibernation can be repeatedly interrupted and resumed.

In the tropics, tanrecs, lungfish and some other animals go into summer hibernation.

There is no doubt that the phenomenon of hibernation is very close to the phenomenon of suspended animation. By suspended animation was meant a state of hidden life or even a complete interruption of vital functions, after which the body can return to life again. But now it has been established that in this second sense (i.e., in the sense of a complete stop of life processes), anabiosis does not exist in nature at all, but only various forms of hibernation exist, that is, various forms of weakening and slowing down life processes.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.