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sindumpster · 2 years

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Random question but i just started randomly thinking about this; how does hibernation work? Like for dragons or even other creatures like demons if they would do that as well (yes i know it would pretty much depend on your own imagination and shit but like i wanna hear your take lmao i like your rambles)

Oh pff no worries. I mention the imagination thing nearly every time as more of a disclaimer. Since yanno, with worldbuilding you can pick and choose and modify things, and as much as I love musing, I never want people the think I’m making the rules lol.

But I guess to start I’ll mention some general things about hibernation. And if you wanna skip the rundown and biology facts stuff I’ll make a separation further down with a bunch of “===”:

—The term “hibernation” is kinda complicated. It refers to an extended period of torpor, or slowing down of the metabolism (energy consumption, heart rate, breathing, etc) and lowering of body temperature to conserve energy (some can get really cold, but on average body temp drops about 5-10° Celsius/9-18°Fahrenheit). While it is kind of like a deep sleep state, it is not synonymous with sleep. Animals that hibernate still have waking and sleeping cycles. They do have to occasionally wake up, either to warm up, to defecate, drink, or even eat (though those needs vary depending on species). This waking up (called arousal) can take hours, and about 80% of the animal’s energy goes to arousal.

—Hibernation can last from days to weeks to months depending on the species. Animals that hibernate usually prepare themselves beforehand, like how bears need to put on as much fat as possible since that’s their main source of energy while hibernating.

—Hibernation is voluntary. While it is triggered by hormones as a reaction to environmental changes, animals can also choose not to hibernate, like in the case of a warm winter or abundant food.

—also, confusingly, torpor can refer to short-term metabolism slowdown and lowered body temperature. It either lasts a few hours or is part of a day-night cycle (it has to last less than 24 hours). Torpor is involuntary, and usually is part of the animal’s sleep cycle. Lots of rodents do this, along with some bats and marsupials. Hummingbirds are probably most famous examples of this, and it’s how they manage to sleep/stop eating by night and not die. And while technically not hibernation, I’m gonna include it because it’s a similar process. But note that some animals I list later undergo torpor, not hibernation.

—and in case it wasn’t confusing enough, there’s also estivation. Which is pretty much a fancy way of saying “hibernation but in really hot temperatures”. And if you’re cold-blooded, you undergo brumation. And yes, there’s some weird specifics to brumation that make it different, I’m gonna be a bitch and lump those with “hibernation” too. Also hibernation can be triggered by a lack of food or water, it isn’t always temperature or a seasonal thing. Nature is full of weird exceptions to every rule.

—Anyways I already alluded to this but “hibernation” is fairly common among mammals. Bears are probably the most famous, but lots of small mammals do it too. Like ground squirrels, chipmunks, hamsters, dormice (and many other rodents), monotremes (echidnas), hedgehogs, bats, skunks, raccoons, badgers, and many more. There’s even a species of lemur that hibernates.

—Birds do not hibernate. Many do undergo torpor though, like hummingbirds, chickadees, swifts, poorwills, nighthawks, doves, among others.

—Many reptiles and amphibians “hibernate”. Desert toads can bury themselves for years to wait for water (estivation). Many frogs hibernate underwater, but there’s also that magical antifreeze frog that decided it needed to flex and turns itself into a popsicle every winter. There’s also a decent number of salamanders and their cousins that do it too. Garter snakes “hibernate” in colonies during the winter, but most snakes are loners. Lots of tortoises “hibernate”, as do lizards.

—oh and if you thought it ended with reptiles you would be wrong. Insects do it too. Ladybugs, bees, flies, some mosquitoes, some wasps (usually the queens who repopulate the nest come spring), some beetles and many more do the hibernation. There’s even the Upis beetle which also freezes itself in order to survive the Alaskan winter. Also some arachnids like spiders “hibernate” too.

—and nope. Still doesn’t end there. The fish do it too. Not as many but koi and gobies have been observed entering a slowed metabolic state after burrowing into soft sediment. Lungfish are famous for estivation, or waiting underground for years until their water source returns. One species of Antarctic cod goes almost completely dormant during the winter, and is the closest fish equivalent to true hibernation.

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TL;DR: hibernation takes many forms, but refers to a long-term slowdown of an animal’s metabolism (torpor) in response to seasonal changes (winter, dry seasons, etc) or food/water shortages. That said, hibernation and related forms of torpor are very diverse within the animal world. Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, arachnids, fish all have species that undergo some variation of torpor. Some species take it to the extreme.

So as much as I kinda hate to say it, it kinda does go along with my usual “anything goes” disclaimer where you can imagine hibernation in fantasy animals taking just about any form, be it short term torpor or extremes like allowing themselves to freeze. Hell, if you wanna make your creature as durable as a tardigrade, nature’s already given you a base to build on lol.

That said, my canon dragons do not naturally hibernate. But since I see them as magical creature which are all about body mods (allowing them to live in just about any environment), I’m sure there’s some that have altered themselves to undergo torpor or full-on hibernation (or brumation?? Whatever you call it when you’re semi-warm blooded). I reckon some would go about it like bears, and bulk up during the months prior and then go through extended torpor. Or maybe desert dragons bury themselves like the desert toad, only emerging when conditions are right. Or a dragon with an ice affinity that allows itself to freeze. You could even take it further, like what if the mythos about certain dragons awakening from stone is just another form of extreme, magically-aided hibernation. Or dragons associated with volcanoes, who go dormant for centuries only to emerge when said volcanoes erupt (like, tied to an old ramble about dragons modifying themselves to have really unconventional dietary requirements, where maybe this one feeds on lava or ash, or needs the chemicals from those poisonous gases. Or just needs extreme heat to function.)

Or you could do similar to what I do, where while my dergs do not hibernate, cold will slow them down. Partly because they’re this weird in-between of being warm and cold blooded, so lower temps make them sluggish but they can still produce some body heat. But if it gets bad enough they will eventually enter a sleep-like state (but unlike true hibernation, they can’t sustain it long-term). If they don’t find a heat source within a few days, they will expire, so it’s very much a last resort (and they will not wake up without heat). It’s an “I’m trapped out in the snow and my options are either to die within a few hours or go to sleep and slow down everything in the hopes that it either warms up or someone helps me within the next few days” level of desperation.

It’s part of the reason why Jake hates the cold. It slows him down and makes him sleepy, but also lowers his energy requirements (aka: he gains weight because if anything he eats more during the winter months, not less lol). Which also means you could totally weaponize your thermostat to fuck with him.

As for demons, I feel like they’re the ultimate extreme of “do what you want”. Nature’s rules do not apply to demons imo, though personally I still like using nature and biology as a base for how demons function. But there’s a lot that can go into it too, like what is the nature of your demons? Do they exist on the same plane or do they have their own realm? What is that realm like? Do they need to feed, and if so, on what? What happens if they don’t feed? Not to mention there’s so many types of demons, and you can just as easily make your own custom types too lol.

I feel like there’s plenty of mythos justification for it too, like stories of monsters and demons that visit during certain times of the year. Demons/monsters that emerge every X number of years, or centuries. Maybe even millennia. Or stories of demons who have gone dormant but with vague threats that they may one day wake and cause havoc again. And like dragons, how they hibernate can take on any form. It could be a short torpor when they don’t have sustenance. It can be hibernation due to the environment of earth being too harsh compared to their own realm. It could just be natural periods of dormancy. Hell, if your demons live for thousands of years, or are immortal, maybe short-term torpor is a few years. Compared to that lifespan, a year or two is a blink of an eye, even if it feels long to us.

But yeh, I guess what I’m saying is that nature does the “hibernation” in so many diverse ways that you can’t really go wrong coming up with your own version. It might already technically exist. But even if not, it’s fantasy. Have fun and go wild lol.