Available online
Description
By sleeping, hibernators don't escape the cold, they either have to spend their precious reserves of energy keeping warm or they risk fatally low body temperatures. The Canadian ground-squirrel can... let its body temperature drop to just above freezing but experiments reveal that the squirrel doesn't passively fall into torpor. It remains in control and even wakes up at intervals throughout the winter. We filmed these experiments being carried out by Dr. Harry Wang. He's developed a special transmitter that can be harmlessly fitted inside the squirrel to relay information from animals in their natural habitat. The experiments that reveal the sbtleties in the squirrels control of hibernation are the work of Dr Kraig Heller. He explains how hibernation might have evolved in animals that spent more and mor eof their time in deep sleep.
By sleeping, hibernators don't escape the cold, they either have to spend their precious reserves of energy keeping warm or they risk fatally low body temperatures. The Canadian ground-squirrel can... let its body temperature drop to just above freezing but experiments reveal that the squirrel doesn't passively fall into torpor. It remains in control and even wakes up at intervals throughout the winter. We filmed these experiments being carried out by Dr. Harry Wang. He's developed a special transmitter that can be harmlessly fitted inside the squirrel to relay information from animals in their natural habitat. The experiments that reveal the sbtleties in the squirrels control of hibernation are the work of Dr Kraig Heller. He explains how hibernation might have evolved in animals that spent more and mor eof their time in deep sleep.
| Module code and title: | S324, Animal physiology |
|---|---|
| Item code: | S324; 04 |
| First transmission date: | 11-05-1985 |
| Published: | 1985 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:15 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Aileen Llewellyn |
| Contributors: | Kraig Heller; Lawrence Wang |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Arousal; Brain; Canadian ground; Hibernation; Hyperthalamus; Squirrel life; Thermo-regulation; Torpor; Underground |
| Subject terms: | Cold adaptation; Cold--Physiological effect; Hibernation |
| Master spool number: | HOU4341 |
| Production number: | FOUS283P |
| Videofinder number: | 1839 |
| Available to public: | no |
