Hibernaculum (zoology)
A hibernaculum (plural form: hibernacula) (Latin, "tent for winter quarters") is a place in which an animal seeks refuge, such as a bear using a cave to overwinter.
The word can be used to describe a variety of shelters used by many kinds of animals, including insects, toads, lizards, snakes, bats, rodents, and primates of various species.
[1] For this reason, extremely cold temperatures, such as those experienced in the winter, outside of tropical locations, cause their metabolic systems to shut down; long exposure may lead to death.
Thus, hibernacula are used to avoid sporadic warming and the risk of death due high concentrations of cryoprotectants at warmer temperatures.
They are able to find old hibernacula due to hydrocarbons released by lady beetle feet which create a lasting path.
However, frogs may exhibit greater freeze-tolerance capacity at high latitude range limits, where winter climate is more severe.
[14] Although, determining if frogs can identify sites with appropriate microclimates to support overwinter survival and what factors might inform such choices are still unknown and will require further study.
As part of steps to implement the HABAP, newt hibernacula (e.g. log piles) have been constructed to improve the quality of the terrestrial habitat through increasing the number of potential overwintering sites.
[15] It was also determined that habitat surrounding breeding ponds with plenty of cover and suitable overwintering sites may have less need for provision of artificial hibernacula than landscapes with less woodland, hedgerows, scrub etc.
[15] Although, monitoring in the vicinity of these hibernacula in autumn using felt roofing tiles did not reveal the presence of any great crested newts even though they are known to breed in nearby ponds.
Staying inside an insulated hibernaculum is a strategy to avoid the harsh winter months when the frigid outside temperatures may kill an ectothermic reptile.
[16] Unlike more solitary snapping turtles, snakes may either hibernate alone or in large aggregations of up to several thousand individuals of the same or different species.
They use a wide variety of hibernacula, including: rock piles, debris-filled wells, caves, crevices, unused burrows made by other animals, and ant mounds.
[17][19] A fossil specimen of the stem group-boa Hibernophis is known from the White River Formation of Wyoming, comprising 4 individuals preserved together in a hibernaculum.
[22] Common collared lizards spend about 6 months hibernating, almost always solitarily, though pairs of juvenile females have been observed within the same hibernaculum.
There were no significant den size differences between age or sex classes, except adult males creating larger entrances.
Also like other species, they tend to dig dens into the earth, although their Arctic hibernacula are usually covered with snow by the time they emerge.
[31] Bats favor larger hibernacula where large groups may roost together, including natural caves, mines, cellars, and other kinds of underground sites and man-made structures, like ice-houses.
Little brown bats in northern latitudes hibernate for up to eight months during the winter, and leave their roosts in the warm spring weather when insect prey is plentiful again.
Mountain pygmy possums in New South Wales, Australia, dig holes in the ground to form hibernacula, with the preferred location being in boulder fields under a layer of snow.
