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The video has accumulated more than 2.4 million views. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To survive extremely cold temperatures, some reptiles undergo brumation, which is a state of inactivity equivalent to hibernation in mammals. Now, a video showing how alligators conserve energy in freezing temperatures has caught the attention of social media users. The footage shows the reptile poking its nose through the ice of a frozen pond to avoid suffocation. The gator was spotted "frozen" inside the giant pond-shaped ice cubes at Swamp Park, a tourist attraction and alligator sanctuary near Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina, US, the BBC reported. In the...

Fresh snowfall blankets the Tahoe Basin which is to be expected in the winter months, but what many people don’t expect is to see a black bear rumbling around, but it’s become more common. Wisdom on how to coexist with bears is available through many organizations and agencies. Many of them have collaborated to create Keep Tahoe Bears Wild and TahoeBears.org. The partnership comprises the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California State Parks, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Black bears spend the fall bulking up during a...

VIDEO So WHERE is Joe Biden? He seems to have disappeared. That is because the Democrats needed to put him on ice so he wouldn't be able to make more public appearances for the time being. But don't worry. Joe will be back. The DNC plans to unseal his hibernation chamber on November 4 as per his instructions so he can be well rested for the election campaign.

Grizzly bears spend many months in hibernation, but their muscles do not suffer from the lack of movement. The bear's metabolism and heart rate drop rapidly. It excretes neither urine nor feces. The amount of nitrogen in the blood increases drastically and the bear becomes resistant to the hormone insulin. A person could hardly survive this four-month phase in a healthy state. Afterwards, he or she would most likely have to cope with thromboses or psychological changes. Above all, the muscles would suffer from this prolonged period of disuse. The scientists from Berlin, Greifswald and the United States were particularly...

They took as their reference an existing mission study to send six humans to Mars and back in a five year timescale. The study found the spacecraft mass could be reduced by a third by removing the crew quarters with a similar reduction in consumables, equivalent to several tons of saved mass. Hibernation would take place in small individual pods that would double as cabins while the crew are awake. The assumption was that a drug would be administered to induce "torpor"—the term for the hibernating state. Like hibernating animals, the astronauts would be expected to acquire extra body fat...

The current state of this technology is really promising. They use a technique called therapeutic hypothermia, which lowers the temperature of a person by a few degrees...With the lowered temperature, a human’s metabolism decreases and they fall unconscious into a torpor. ... A few years ago, SpaceWorks Enterprises delivered a report to NASA on how they could use this therapeutic hypothermia for long duration spaceflight within the Solar System. Currently, a trip to Mars takes about 6-9 months. And during that time, the human passengers are going to be using up precious air, water and food. But in this torpor...

US Special Forces working with James Cook University in Australia. Drug aims to raise the heart and blood pressure into a 'survival window' low enough to reduce blood loss, but high enough to prevent brain injury. Human trials expected to begin within a year.

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say. Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar. The militants were armed with AK-46s but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked. It is thought to be the first such incident since Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in 1989.

<p>Can we tap a dormant capacity to downshift our metabolism?</p> <p>This time of year, the wilds of North America are relatively quiet. The black bears that usually patrol the woods seem to have vanished. Many bat species are nowhere to be found, at least not by the causal observer. The same is true of ground squirrels and chipmunks. They are hidden away—hibernating.</p>

Japanese man has survived for 24 days in cold weather and without food and water by falling into a state of "hibernation", his doctor has said. Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, 35, went missing on 7 October after going with friends to climb Mount Rokko in western Japan. He had almost no pulse, his organs had shut down and his body temperature dropped to 22C (71F) when he was found. Medics say they are still puzzled how he survived because his metabolism was apparently almost at a standstill. Mr Uchikoshi is believed to have tripped and lost consciousness after leaving his party...

TOKYO (AP) - A man who went missing in western Japan survived in near-freezing weather without food and water for over three weeks by falling into a state similar to hibernation, doctors said. Mitsutaka Uchikoshi had almost no pulse, his organs had all but shut down and his body temperature was 71 degrees Fahrenheit or about 21.6 Celsius when he was discovered on Rokko mountain in late October, said doctors who treated him at the nearby Kobe City General Hospital. He had been missing for 24 days. "On the second day, the sun was out, I was in a field,...

It happens every year: large numbers of copperheads gather and move in unison to dens for hibernation. But it happens in October, not July or August. Now the common event has become an uncommon and inexplicable one. "I know for a fact that all these snakes didn't just wake up one day and do this," said Chuck Miller, whose Marion County yard has been overrun with the pitvipers. "Something's making them do it. They know something we don't know. There's got to be something more to this." Nearly 100 of the snakes are using a cedar tree as a sort...

Mice forced to breathe hydrogen sulfide -- known best for its rotten egg smell -- go into a kind of suspended animation, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a finding that may help save human lives. Although hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic in high doses, it may activate some of the mechanisms that cause other animals to go into hibernation, they wrote in this week's issue of the journal Science. Finding a safe way to do this in humans could lead to new ways to treat cancer and prevent injury or death from blood loss, or help people undergo and...

Suspended animation has been deliberately induced in a species of mouse which does not naturally hibernate. It is the first time such a feat has been achieved, say the procedure’s pioneers. If a similar response could be triggered in humans, there would be major healthcare benefits and the futuristic idea of putting astronauts into suspended animation on long-haul space flights could move a step closer to reality. The mice were induced to fall into their deep sleep after being exposed to hydrogen sulphide - the gas which gives rotten eggs and stink bombs their characteristic foul odour. The animals later...