This is a common North American Wood Frog. Every winter the frog freezes solid, then thaws in spring to go about doing whatever it is frogs do. I'm North American, so it makes sense that I would do the same thing. And to support my cause for less than optimal functioning at low temperatures, I would imagine that the frog's motivation gets a little lower when it is frozen, not to mention it's kinda hard to move. I'm just saying.
Hibernation is characterized by slowed metabolism, slowed breathing, and lowered temperature. Typically animals hibernate during periods of food scarcity so that they can conserve energy. Prior to hibernation, they consume large quantities of food to build up body fat off of which they survive during hibernation. I like this idea. Eat a ton, get fat, work it off by sleeping, wake up and do it all over again.
The alternative is moving to Florida, which I wasn't planning on doing until I was 95 or so, but it is starting to look more appealing all the time.
Yeah, that's more like it. True, Florida has it's drawbacks like alligators and man-eating pythons, but hey, they don't hibernate right? So it must be warmer. My mind and body are starting to function more optimally just thinking about it . . .
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