Will turtles freeze to death in winter?

Turtles don't freeze to death in winter, because turtles hibernate, and hibernating turtles don't freeze to death because the outside temperature is too low.

Turtle is a temperature-changing animal, and its life is greatly affected by the environmental temperature. 165438+ 10 to March of the following year, when the temperature is below 10℃, the tortoise still lies in the mud at the bottom of the pond or in the loose soil covered with straw, and hibernates without eating. At this time, its metabolism is very slow and weak.

It was not until early April that the temperature rose above 15℃ that the turtles began to resume their activities, eating a lot, and they did not need to feed food or change water during hibernation. The main work in this period is to keep warm, such as covering the open space around the pool and between the pool and the fence with straw; The second is to prevent tortoises from being attacked by natural enemies.

Before hibernation 10 days or so, turtles are not allowed to eat, so that the feces in the body can be discharged. When it completely goes into hibernation, just cover it with a wet towel and put it in a quiet place.

Hibernation is a state in which the extreme but regular decline of body temperature, metabolism and other physiological activities is an adaptation to reducing energy consumption. This definition does not include seasonal or day and night dormancy of temperature-changing organisms in passive response to environmental temperature reduction.

Therefore, true hibernation is limited to birds and mammals. Hibernating species can be roughly divided into active hibernating animals and passive hibernating animals. The latter, such as hamster, external factors, including photoperiod, food and external temperature, play a major role in the timing of this hibernation cycle event.

Extended data

Animals hibernate when they stop living.

Generally, it refers to the seasonal inactivity of warm-blooded animals, but it is also suitable for the wintering of terrestrial animals (arthropods, terrestrial shellfish, amphibians, reptiles, etc.). ) in a broad sense. With the coming of winter, the body temperature of warm-blooded animals drops with the outside temperature, and soon it becomes impossible to carry out life activities.

But before that, it moved to a place where the wind and temperature did not drop sharply and entered hibernation. Generally, choose the underground of sunny slope or under the stone. As a preparation for hibernation, animals accumulate fat in their bodies. For insects, eggs, larvae, pupae and adults can be selected to overwinter at a certain stage according to different species.

The hibernating animals among warm-blooded animals are hedgehogs, squirrels, bobcats, bats and other small mammals. Compared with large animals, they have a large ratio of body surface area to volume, so they release a large proportion of heat, and they lack the productive food needed to maintain their body temperature in winter. So hibernation is an adaptation to these conditions.

Cold, lack of food and water, shortening of the day and other stimuli act on the pituitary-endocrine system of the brain, inducing hibernation, but its mechanism is still unclear. In order to prepare for hibernation, the body synthesizes a lot of fat, or stores food in the nest. The unsaturation of tissue fat increases and the melting point decreases. The body temperature drops slowly, forming a state that is only 0.5-2.0℃ higher than the outside temperature. The number of heartbeats, breaths and metabolism are only a few tenths of the normal state.

Blood sugar also decreased, and Mg2 in serum increased. Compared with non-hibernating animals and hibernating animals, their tissues have strong cold resistance, especially the function of cell membrane can remain normal at extremely low temperature. During hibernation, the thermoregulation function is not completely lost. When the body temperature reaches a certain limit, the thermoregulation function works, and some people start to wake up. Many kinds of animals can wake up regularly to excrete and eat during hibernation. Compared with going into hibernation, the body temperature changes (rises) faster when you wake up.

Under the control of the sympathetic nervous system, the brown adipose tissue of the neck and scapula is activated, generating a lot of heat. This heat spreads to all parts of the body with the blood. Meat-eating bears and skunks stay in caves in winter, but they are in a state of near sleep, and their body temperature drops only a few degrees, and they can respond immediately to external stimuli.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia: Tortoise, Baidu Encyclopedia: Hibernation