Page 20 - World of Animals - Issue #36

30 amazing facts about bears

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Bears don’t hibernate
Bears are possibly one of the most famous 10 degrees. Their metabolic rate also does not autumn eating lots and increasing their body
cases of hibernation, but whether they do slow down quite as much as true hibernators fat to ensure they have the energy reserves
actually hibernate is up for debate. True and, also unlike true hibernators, they are able to see them through the cold weather when
hibernators such as ground squirrels, bats and to wake up quickly and easily to respond to food is scarce. Many scientists believe that
mouse lemurs reduce their body temperature threats. So if bears aren’t hibernating, where their period of winter inactivity is more like a
to a degree close to freezing, whereas bears do they go in winter? Well, they certainly winter lethargy, or torpor, as it is more like an
only reduce their body temperature by around slow down, that’s for sure. Bears spend the extended nap than a deep sleep.
RIGHT Bears
are not true
hibernators, but
rather extreme
nap takers

“To make sure they are getting their daily

calorie intake, panda bears have to
consume around 20 kilograms (44

pounds) of bamboo every day”

Panda bears The ice isn’t the only
spend 16 thing shrinking in
hours a the Arctic
day eating One of the main chemicals accumulating in the
Pandas will eat around blubber of seals, and subsequently in polar bears’
20 different varieties of food, is organohalogens, which can act like

bamboo, but it is diffi cult hormones once in the body.

to digest and contains This has led to shrinking penis and testicle
very little in the way of size in males and a reduction in ovary size in
nutrients. To make sure females. This is particularly alarming as polar
they are getting their daily bears have a low rate of reproductive success
calorie intake, panda bears anyway. Human pollutants are likely to cause
have to consume around further damage to reproductive rates for the
20 kilograms (44 pounds) of future. Bears grow slowly, mate infrequently,
bamboo every day. Eating so and mature at a late age, meaning they are

much plant matter is definitely slow to recover from anything that damages
time consuming, and can take their population. At a time when polar bears are
16 hours of continual grazing for undergoing severe habitat loss, it is an extra

a panda to get its fill. threat they may not be able to overcome.
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