Chipmunks at Play
I think the chipmunks came out of hibernation today. This morning, they were racing around the front of the house when I went to turn off the porch light, tumbling over rocks as they chased each other. They're playing under the bird feeder right now, getting the stink eye from the squirrels.
Turns out, chipmunks don't hibernate so much as enter a state of torpor:
Torpor is a necessary response to food scarcity during the cold winter months", explained Humphries. "But there are serious risks involved". During torpor, sensory and motor capabilities are severely reduced. Chipmunks fall into a near brain-dead state where their body temperature drops to within a few degrees of freezing. Heart rate plummets from a 400 beat per minute drum roll, to a 23 beat per minute crawl. Many basic body functions cannot be supported and are shut down, resulting in a dangerous build up of toxins. Brain activity is arrested to such a degree that chipmunks lose their ability to sleep. Torpor is definitely a strange process to get your head around. "It is hard to conceive of a sleep so deep that it no longer involves sleep", mused Humphries. Sleep deprivation may be one of the reasons that chipmunks rouse periodically from bouts of torpor - they literally have to wake to sleep! Needless to say when chipmunks arouse from torpor they carry a hangover of epic proportions. Temporary brain damage, resulting in disorientation and memory loss is commonplace and may take days to recover from.
I think I'm going to put some food out for the little guys.