Total Pageviews

Saturday, August 03, 2019

aestas



Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in endotherms. Hibernation refers to a season of heterothermy characterized by low body temperature, slow breathing and heart rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most commonly observed during the winter months.

Although traditionally reserved for "deep" hibernators such as rodents, the term has been redefined to include animals such as bears and is now applied based on active metabolic suppression rather than any absolute decline in body temperature.

 Many experts believe that the processes of daily torpor and hibernation form a continuum and utilize similar mechanisms.

 The equivalent during the summer months is aestivation.
____________

Aestivation or æstivation (from Latin: aestas, summer, but also spelled estivation in American English) is a state of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation, although taking place in the summer rather than the winter. Aestivation is characterized by inactivity and a lowered metabolic rate, that is entered in response to high temperatures and arid conditions.

 It takes place during times of heat and dryness, the hot dry season, which are often the summer months.

Invertebrate and vertebrate animals are known to enter this state to avoid damage from high temperatures and the risk of desiccation. 

______________

Desiccation (from Latin de- "thorougly" + siccare "to dry") is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying.

 A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container.

(Dried up meat.

______________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep

Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and reduced interactions with surroundings.[2] It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but more reactive than coma or disorders of consciousness, sleep displaying very different and active brain patterns.

Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body.

 A well-known feature of sleep is the dream, an experience typically recounted in narrative form, which resembles waking life while in progress, but which usually can later be distinguished as fantasy.




No comments: