Natures Wonders: torpor in lemur monkeys (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, March 12, 2021, 23:17 (1352 days ago) @ David Turell

On and off for seven months:

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-unusual-creature-winter-slumber-scientists.html

"If you binged on high-calorie snacks and then spent the winter crashed on the couch in a months-long food coma, you'd likely wake up worse for wear. Unless you happen to be a fat-tailed dwarf lemur.

"This squirrel-sized primate lives in the forests of Madagascar, where it spends up to seven months each year mostly motionless and chilling, using the minimum energy necessary to withstand the winter. While zonked, it lives off of fat stored in its tail.

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"'Hibernation is literally in their DNA," Blanco said.

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"For four months, the eight lemurs in the study spent some 70% of their time in metabolic slow-motion: curled up, cool to the touch, barely moving or breathing for up to 11 days at a stretch, showing little interest in food—akin to their wild counterparts.

"Now that spring is afoot in North Carolina and the temperatures are warming, the lemurs are waking up. Their first physical exams after they emerged showed them to be 22% to 35% lighter than they were at the start but otherwise healthy. Their heart rates are back up from just eight beats per minute to about 200, and their appetites have returned.

"We've been able to replicate their wild conditions well enough to get them to replicate their natural patterns," said Erin Ehmke, who directs research at the center.

"Females were the hibernation champs, out-stuporing the males and maintaining more of their winter weight. They need what's left of their fat stores for the months of pregnancy and lactation that typically follow after they wake up, Blanco said.

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"Blanco suspects the impressive energy-saving capabilities of these lemurs may also relate to another trait they possess: longevity. The oldest dwarf lemur on record, Jonas, died at the Duke Lemur Center at the age of 29. The fact that dwarf lemurs live longer than non-hibernating species their size suggests that something intrinsic to their biological machinery may protect against aging."

Comment: These folks learned how to replicate wild conditions in their lab. We all know what hibernation looks like. Maybe they'll find out how it works. If it is their DNA as a special code, how did that happen? How did they learn to hibernate? Or did God adjust their code?