Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 July 24

= July 24 =

Animals and hibernation.
If you found a hibernating animal in the middle of the snowy winter, like a squirrel or chipmunk, could you wake it up, keep it as a pet, and it'll live normally the rest of the winter if you bring it home?

What about an animal that has hibernated a few winters, then made into a pet in the summer, will that animal try to hibernate in the winter?

And I'm brain lost at this, are animals that hibernate tend to be herbivores? Are there any carnivores that hibernate?

I'm also going to ask in the Humanities desk which countries in the world like pork meat the most. 67.165.185.178 (talk) 04:00, 24 July 2022 (UTC).


 * Bears are carnivoran mammals that hibernate. Indian summers brings out the hibernating varmints so if your new found pet isn't cold it will not be hibernating. Lastly, people acquire/have their own tastes regardless of where they live, but pork is preferred over beef in China which accounts for more than half of the global pork consumption. Modocc (talk) 04:20, 24 July 2022 (UTC)


 * There are several mostly smaller omnivores (many more or less insectivores) that hibernate. For example hedgehogs, badgers and bears. They do so because – like plants – insects, snails etc. aren't available as food in winter. Big herbivores and omnivores (deer, swines) can survive winter without hibernating (which is risky, as it would leave them defenceless) even when food supply is insufficient for long term survival and big carnivores (tigers, wolves), which eat big herbivores, can find food during winter just as well as during summer. Furthermore, there are cold-blooded carnivores or omnivores like frogs and snakes, which have to hibernate as it gets too cold to remain active.
 * I hope you don't seriously want to catch a wild animal during hibernation to keep it as a pet. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:58, 26 July 2022 (UTC)