Fat and fit: How dormice make optimal use of their body fat reserves

Edible dormice store considerable amounts of fat in summer. Their fat reserves are necessary for them to survive a long hibernation—on average 8 months—in underground cavities. But how do hibernators allocate surplus body fat reserves to optimize survival? Researchers at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, have found that animals with larger fat reserves prefer boosting their metabolism more often to shortening their hibernation. The results are published in the journal Functional Ecology.

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