Hiking in the snowy woods, you peek inside a cave and encounter a hibernating grizzly bear! Its metabolic rate seems to be very low. What do you predict is the predominant type of reaction occurring in this bear?

Answer and Explanation:

Dormancy is a period in an organism's biological cycle in which its growth, development, and physic activity gets suspended for a period of time. This causes a drastic reduction in metabolic activity, allowing the organism to conserve its energy. Dormancy is closely related to environmental conditions, and it is considered to be an adaptation mechanism by which organisms respond to extreme conditions.

Hibernation belongs to this dormancy process, in which animals progressively decrease their metabolic rates and their body temperature is held a few degrees over the ambient temperature. During hibernation, all functions are reduced: cardiac rime, respiration, renal function, and etcetera.

Before hibernating, bears eat a huge amount of food because this energy is what will keep them alive while hibernating. This action is known as hyperphagia, and while doing it, bears accumulate fate in their tissues. As these animals need to maintain the energy balance and metabolic health, they make use of these reserves. The nutrients excess will turn into triglycerides, that the animal will use to store in the fatty cells. There are several elements involved in the process, such as sugar, amino acids, glycerol, among others.