Everyone knows chipmunks need their sleep — otherwise they get ornery and attack you in local parks. Oh, and they're also more likely to die.
Global warming, it seems, has shortened the hibernation period for animals like bears, marmots and chipmunks like Mr. Cutie Pants over there. But it leads to more than animals just getting crankier: They wake up earlier thinking it's spring, but the food sources often haven't caught up, and the animals starve. So much for the early-bird-gets-the-worm theory; it's more like "the early bird gets the shaft."
Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological lab have checked up on marmot hibernation behavior since the 1970s, and because temperatures have risen by about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in recent times, they've seen the marmots awaken from their dens about a month earlier.
Because of the temperature change, some animals don't hibernate at all. Brown bears in Spain skipped out on hibernation as did chipmunks in the U.S., and while the bears didn't take much of a population hit, many early-rising chipmunks starved or got chomped by predators.
As we all know (well, those who paid attention in 4th-grade biology), many mammals hibernate by slowing down their metabolism to sleep through the food-short winter, waking up when spring arrives and grub is plentiful again. Marmots who've gotten up early have had to make do with trying to eat trees when left without a reliable food source.
Some biologists think that as the effects of global warming on hibernation grow more pronounced, the animals may change migration patterns or give birth earlier. “I do think what we will be facing is the extinction of many species,” says Terry Root, a biologist at Stanford.
So just look at Mr. Cutie Pants over there, all curled up and not starving, and then tell me you want to wake him up with your big honking H2.
Global Warming Effects May Kill Off Hibernating Animals (Environmental Graffiti)
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