Animals at the extremes: hibernation and torpor

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• define and use, or recognise definitions and applications of, each of the bold terms
• give definitions of the terms 'hibernation', 'torpor' and 'adaptive hypothermia', and the three physiological processes that underlie them
• give examples of the diversity of the major groups of mammals and birds that contain hibernating species
• describe the physiological changes occurring during entry to hibernation and at least three of the cues that may trigger entry
• present evidence to show that hibernating mammals and birds retain physiological control of their Tb.