a state of lowered body temperature and metabolic activity assumed by many animals in response to adverse environmental conditions, especially cold and heat. The torpid state may last overnight, as in temperate-zone hummingbirds and some insects and reptiles; ... Torpor in animals...
dictionary.reference.com/browse/torpor dictionary.reference.com/browse/torpor
Torpor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daily Torpor , sometimes called temporary hibernation is a (usually short-term) state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpor
This kind of torpor usually happens with small animals for different reasons. They can get their food [like insects] for only part of the day. Since these are small creatures, they can’t eat and store enough to keep their bodies active all the time.
library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312800/torpor.htm library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312800/torpor.htm
During daily, or shallow, torpor, animals are inactive and their temperature is lowered slightly for several hours within a circadian cycle. Some small mammals and birds (including hummingbirds, to conserve energy) experience this shallow torpor.
library.thinkquest.org/25553/english/animals/how/sleepl... library.thinkquest.org/25553/english/animals/how/sleeplike.shtml
Brief and Straightforward Guide: What is Torpor? ... Small animals, or those with limited food supply, benefit the most from torpor. Small animals, as well as birds, have a limited ability to store body fat. Birds need to stay light to fly, and small animals simply don't have very much room.
www.wisegeek.com/what-is-torpor.htm www.wisegeek.com/what-is-torpor.htm
Larger "cold-blooded" animals, such as lizards and frogs, find their bodies becoming colder and colder as winter approaches. They become sleepy and, eventually, totally inactive. This state is called torpor, or we say "these animals have become torpid".
www.saburchill.com/ans02/chapters/chap033.html
Hibernation is an ingenious adaptation that some animals employ to survive difficult conditions in winter. This unit examines the differences between hibernation and torpor, and discusses the characteristic ... Animals, Biology, Hibernation, Torpor...
www.oercommons.org/courses/animals-at-the-extremes-hibe... www.oercommons.org/courses/animals-at-the-extremes-hibernation-and-torpor
This conjecture was tested by implanting osmotic minipumps into Siberian hamsters manifesting spontaneous torpor; the animals received a constant release of leptin or vehicle for 14 days. Exogenous leptin treatment eliminated torpor in a significant proportion of treated hamsters, whereas treatment with the vehicle did not.
ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/287/1/R97
Some animals can dramatically change their physiology to avoid dry conditions. The Indian Apple snail can aestivate or enter into summer torpor. Animals living in temporary ponds face an acute shortage of water.
www.bioinquiry.vt.edu/bioinquiry/water/waterpaid/waterh... www.bioinquiry.vt.edu/bioinquiry/water/waterpaid/waterhtmls/adapt1a2.html
Frerichs et al, 1994). During torpor, hibernating animals lower their energy consumption, blood flow, and body temperature to otherwise lethal levels, but because of their special adaptive changes, they suffer no CNS damage or cellular loss (reviewed in Carey et al, 2003;
www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v27/n5/full/9600395a.html