Hibernation Science

We have had two "bears" in the room today: A black bear and a brown bear.  Both were warm when they went into their caves, ready to hibernate. The bears are actually two towels, that were warmed up with a hair dryer. We quickly fold the "brown bear" in half and half again, then roll up tightly.  But we didn't fold the "black bear". We compared the warmth of the two towels.  We found that the rolled towel retained more heat, just as a hibernating animal stays warm by curling itself up in a ball.

Also, we tried to understand how an animal's heart rate slows during the winter months. We felt our heart beating when we were siting on the carpet, it was very slow. Then, we jumped for a loooooong time, and felt our heart again. WOW!!! It was faster!!!

And finally, we tried to figure out how the food that animals have been eating during the fall time, give them a lot of energy. That energy will help the blood from freezing solid during winter months. 

We filled 1/3 of one container with water and 1/3 of the other container with maple syrup.  Then, we covered each and placed the containers in the freezer overnight. In the morning, we checked both of the containers, and we found out that the water container has frozen, while the syrup container has not, just as the glucose (sugar) in the blood of hibernating animals helps prevent the blood from freezing during the cold winter months.