Sixth Grade
Worksheets
How Do Bears Hibernate?
Everyone enjoys a snow holiday. Who doesn't like to stay inside and take it easy when outside it is cold and a blizzard is piling on the snow? Of course, for most of us, snow holidays last for a few days at best.
Bears, however, enjoy an unbelievably long winter break. Bears hibernate - or nap - as some scientists say, for the whole winter.
They begin to get ready to hibernate long before winter arrives. When food is plentiful, bears feast on their favorite foods like berries and build up their body fat for the winter ahead. During the fall months, bears may gain thirty to forty pounds every week!
Bears must also prepare a place to hibernate - someplace that is protected from the weather and safe from other animals. They build dens in a variety of locations, including caves, rock crevices, and hollow trees. Then they line their dens with sticks, moss, and leaves for insulation.
A bear's den is small. Some have an entrance just large enough for the bear to crawl through. The room inside is small, too - just big enough for a bear to sleep in or maybe big enough for a mother bear and her tiny cubs.
