Are They REALLY Hibernating?
It rained this evening. You know what the rain normally brings…cooler weather! It does here in Florida anyhow. As I’m in the garage waiting for my dog to use her amenities in the yard outside the garage door, I’m wishing I had put my robe on!
My dog is the biggest prissy chicken dog you’ve ever met! Just because it rained, she lifts her paws and jumps around the grass as if to be thinking “ewww it’s wet & muddy yucky, ewwww”! If ever there were someone just lurking around that side door, she’d probably run up to them to say hello. God forbid it were a coyote or bear (yes, we have bears in FL, see the article I once wrote about the Chihuahua that was eaten by one here)! I just recently saw a coyote right behind our house!
Speaking of bears, did you know that there are eight living species of bear! They use caves and burrows during the winter for a long period of sleep known as hibernation, where their body temperature drops a few degrees from normal and heart rate slightly slows.
Northern bears are supposed to hibernate in the winter. Many different types of bears go into a physiological state of sleep, but it’s not true hibernation. They’ve been known to still get up to “use the amenities” and eat food they’ve stored!
The tropical species have cubs year round. Northern female bears have their cubs during their winter hibernation! When bears have their babies, they can have up to 3 at a time! Baby bears are born bald, blind and without teeth. They’ll stay with their mother for two full seasons (about three years), until she’s ready to have more, then she will drive the cubs off. Male Brown and Polar bears sometimes kill and eat cubs born from another father just to get a female to breed again.
Well, with all that said, I keep a can of Alaska Guard Bear Spray on my laundry supply shelf right by my side door! Stalker, intruder, coyote, bear or whatever…it’s best be safe and armed than sorry. Are you prepared? While you’re thinking about it now, if you aren’t, don’t delay!
