Numbness is a state of sharp decrease in vital activity occurring in cold-blooded poikilothermic animals with a lack of moisture (summer numbness) or with a decrease in ambient temperature (winter, which occurs much more often than summer) [1] [2] . It is characterized by a slowdown in metabolism , gas exchange and other vital functions, lack of motor activity, cessation of nutrition, etc. [1] [2] .
Winter numbness is characteristic of many living organisms of northern and temperate latitudes, including amphibians , fish , terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates , reptiles [2] . Most animals that are capable of winter numbness have the ability to overcool the body, that is, to lower their body temperature below 0 ° C without ice [2] .
A similar state of homeothermic animals is called hibernation ; sometimes hibernation of birds is called numbness [2] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Numbness // Great Soviet Encyclopedia / Vvedensky V. A. .. - 2nd edition. - The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1955. - T. 31. - S. 482. - 300,000 copies.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Numbness // Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. M.S. Gilyarov. - Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1986. - S. 438. - 831 p. - 100,000 copies.
See also
- Anabiosis