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Information about Torpor

Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate of metabolism. Animals that go through torpor include small birds like hummingbirds and some small mammals such as bats. During the active part of their day, these animals maintain normal body temperature and activity levels, but their body temperature drops during a portion of the day (usually night) to conserve energy. Torpor is often used to help animals survive in a cold climate, since it allows the organism to save the amount of energy that would normally be used to maintain a high body temperature. Some animals such as groundhogs, chipmunks, ground squirrels and jumping mice enter this state of hibernation for the duration of the winter. Lungfish switch to the torpor state if their pool dries out. Tenrecs switch to the torpor state if food is scarce during the summer (in Madagascar). Black bears, although often thought of as hibernators, do not truly enter a state of torpor. While their body temperatures lower along with respiration and heartbeat, they do not decrease as significantly as most animals in a state of torpor. Still, there is much debate about this within the scientific community, some feel that black bears are true hibernators that employ a more advanced form of hibernation.

Other uses of the word

  • Torpor is alternately used as a reference to any non-physiological state of inactivity. As an example, recently naturalists have learned that the female crocodile enters a deep torpor without aggression during their short egg laying period.
  • This definition is also commonly used to describe the "chill out" effects of a number of psychotropic drugs, such as psychedelic mushrooms and LSD. However, these psychedelics actually raise body temperature.
  • Torpor is also used in vampire mythology, to describe the state that a vampire enters during the daylight hours. Thus, the vampire needs to have or find a safe and secluded spot that is shielded from sunlight. In some mythologies, the vampire also uses a guardian to protect him during the state of torpor.

See also

Trochilidae
Vigors, 1825

Subfamilies

Phaethornithinae
Trochilinae

For a taxonomic list of genera, see:
  • List of hummingbirds in taxonomic order
For an alphabetic species list, see:
  • Alphabetic species list



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BAT may refer to:
  • Baby AT, a variant of the AT form factor
  • Bangor Area Transit
  • B.A.T., "Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters", a 1990 computer game
  • Batch file, ".BAT", MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows shell programs
  • BAT (G.I.

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M. monax

Binomial name
Marmota monax
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as the woodchuck, land beaver, or whistlepig
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Tamias
Illiger, 1811

Species
25 species

Chipmunk is the common name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae.
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S. tereticaudus

Binomial name
Spermophilus tereticaudus
Baird, 1858

Subspecies

S. t. chlorus
S. t.
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Zapodinae
Coues, 1875

Genera

Eozapus
Napaeozapus
Zapus

Jumping mice (subfamily Zapodinae) are a group of mouse-like rodents in North America and China.
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Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernation conserves energy, especially during winter.
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Dipnoi
Müller, 1844

Orders

See text.
Lungfish are freshwater fish belonging to the order Dipnoi. Lungfish are best-known for retaining characteristics primitive within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and structures primitive
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Tenrecomorpha
Butler, 1972

Family: Tenrecidae
Gray, 1821

Subfamilies
  • Geogalinae
  • Oryzorictinae
  • Potamogalinae
  • Tenrecinae
Tenrecidae (common name tenrecs
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Psilocybin mushrooms (also called psilocybian mushrooms) are fungi that contain the psychedelic substances psilocybin and psilocin, and occasionally other psychoactive tryptamines.
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Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Probably the best known psychedelic, it has been used mainly as; a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool to aid various methods for
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Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when development is temporarily suspended. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions.
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Estivation or aestivation (from Latin aestas, summer) is a rare state of dormancy similar to hibernation, but during the months of the summer. Animals that estivate spend a summer inactive and insulated against heat to avoid the potentially harmful effects of the
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Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernation conserves energy, especially during winter.
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Stupor is a common condition which presents itself in response to or during emergency medical services. It is defined as a clinical syndrome of akinesis and mutism but with relative preservation of conscious awareness.
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