From practically stopping their heart rate, to sleeping for a whole year, here are 9 incredible cases of animal hibernation!!

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9. Bats
Bats feed primarily on insects. When the cold weather drives this main food source away, bats either migrate to warmer areas, where there’s an abundant food supply, or they hibernate until the warmth returns. Those who hibernate spend varying amounts of time in their slumber, from as little as two months to as much as half a year at a time. One captive bat hibernated for a record breaking 344 days nearly an entire year.

8. Alpine Marmots
Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) are large grounddwelling squirrels who spend around 200 days out of the year hibernating, making it almost seem as if they exist just to hibernate. Although 2020 seems like a year that we all should be hibernating!! But they do spend their four months out of hibernation wisely, mainly by making sure their species survives, eating, running around and of course looking for another marmot so they can reproduce! Then they start preparing for their next lengthy slumber.

7. Freshwater Turtles
Unlike humans and other mammals, turtles are ectotherms coldblooded reptiles whose body temperature is based on the environment around them. In other words, turtles rely on external heat sources to keep warm, presenting a unique situation for surviving through cold periods, including when the ponds and other freshwater bodies they live in freeze over.

6. FatTailed Dwarf Lemurs
The fattailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius) holds the distinction of being the world’s only known primate that hibernates for an extended time period. Endemic to Madagascar, these creatures spend up to seven months at a time undergoing periods of torpor, which are characterized by severely decreased metabolism, body temperature, and heart rate, interjected with short bursts of reawakening called interbout arousals, during which body activity and temperature return to normal.

5. Bumblebees
To be clear, not all bumblebees hibernate; in fact, males and worker bees typically die off every year, while queen bees retreat underground for the winter, spending between six and eight months hiding in holes in the soil, in rotten tree stumps, and beneath leaves.

4. Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs qualify among few other mammals as “true hibernators,” according to Hedgehog Street. During this period, they enter a state of torpor which, as I explained earlier, means that the body is not fully awake or asleep, but is inactive. For hedgehogs, this means dropping their body temperature to match their surroundings and reaching a point where they are barely breathing but still alive.

3. Garter Snakes
Many, if not most hibernating creatures prefer to spend their winter slumber solo. On the other hand, garter snakes who live in cold climates rely on group hibernation for warmth throughout the winter, gathering in dens by the hundreds, and sometimes even thousands. They are even occasionally joined by other snake species, according to herpetologist Jeff Beane, who spoke with LiveScience on the matter.

2. Bears
Some people mistakenly think that all bears hibernate, but this is not the case. While many bear species, including grizzlies and black bears, do hibernate, others, such as polar bears, do not. During the fall season, bears begin feeding excessively in preparation for hibernation, eating as much as 20,000 calories, and gaining up to three pounds daily, according to Yellowstone.org.

1. Snails
Who knew? Certain land snail species, primarily those in the Northern Hemisphere, hibernate, usually between the months of October and April. Snails stay hydrated during hibernation by sealing their shell openings shut with a layer of dry mucus, called an epiphragm.

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