Have you ever seen a bear hibernating deep inside its den? Of course not. In this clip, Yogi is being filmed as he spends a nice January afternoon in his den, a “personal property” situated close to the south side of the second enclosure. In a previous article we showed that hibernation is not a deep sleep, but more a nap caused by a reduced metabolic rate. Thus, you can see that Yogi is not sleeping but lying lazily in his underground bed, waiting for spring. He conserves his energy as any bear in the wild would, although he’s luckier—in the sanctuary he can find food during the winter as well. Even though he has enough food, he’s kept his hibernation instinct, proving that this energy conservation measure is not learned but inborn. Moreover, starting hibernation shows that the bear has had enough food in the fall, and the fat layer of his body is enough to last him through the winter.
Although Yogy was locked for decades in a zoo, where bears don’t hibernate, his instincts were reactivated when he stepped into a favorable environment
