But Why turns ten years old on April 1, 2026! To celebrate this milestone, we’re listening back to our very first episode. We’ve got owls and turtles and bears. Naturalist Mary Holland gets into the details about hibernation–including the questions you may not even have thought to ask, like what about poop? Then we meet a barred owl named Chapin, who is cared for by Outreach for Earth Stewardship in Shelburne, Vermont.
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Download and print Hibernating Bear and "Om Nom" Bear, coloring pages by Lauren Turmel.
- Bears sleep all winter because they don’t have adequate food sources when the plants and insects they normally eat are not available. So they shut down or slow a lot of their bodily processes and enter a deep state of sleep called torpor.
- Before winter, they go on an eating binge and gain lots of fat to get them through the winter. Their bodies will break down those fat cells for water and calories all winter long.
- While they are hibernating, their heartbeats and breathing slow way down.
- While they are hibernating, they don’t pee or poop!
- Babies are born while bears are hibernating. They will nurse and sleep with their mothers. By the time they come out of hibernation
