# Please define "wild animal instinct" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774 "2005-01-08T19:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774/21 "2005-01-09T11:04:54Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > They become _very_ inactive. They enter a sleep state, their metabolism slows, they don’t come and go or eat (except for their cubs, who nurse). It takes them a long time to recover. > Sounds like pseudo-intellectual nitpicking to me. 😉 Dude, do you know how often I’ve been pseudo-intellectually nitpicked to death in GQ? I’m not about to leave myself open to that again, knowingly, with someone as knowledgable as \*\*Colibri \*\*around! I may be slow, but I am trainable! Choosing my words as carefully as I can makes things easier in the long run. 😃 And yes, actually, bears do wake up periodically to eat and eliminate waste, especially in late winter/early spring. Only small mammals have what’s considered true hibernation. That’s why I chose the words I did, knowing that if a bear expert or hibernation expert was around, I’d likely be pounced on for saying they “hibernate”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774/22 "2005-01-09T15:42:12Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Sounds like pseudo-intellectual nitpicking to me. 😉 No, it’s using the word in its precise technical sense, rather than its more casual, popular sense. Like “instinct,” hibernation can be used in both ways. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Dude, do you know how often I’ve been pseudo-intellectually nitpicked to death in GQ? I’m not about to leave myself open to that again, knowingly, with someone as knowledgable as Colibri around! I may be slow, but I am trainable! Choosing my words as carefully as I can makes things easier in the long run. I’ll tell you something, I try to choose my words here very carefully too. I don’t know how many times I’ve used a word in a casual sense (like “plant” or “reptile,” for example) here only to corrected because it wasn’t accurate in the technical biological sense. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774/23 "2005-01-09T23:06:36Z")
I suspect that the concept of hibernation has been redefined behind my back, so I’m going to wait until I get more information before I destroy any kiddies loving images of mama bear sleeping peacefully through the cold, cold winter. I just cannot “let it alone”. 😛 I shall throw the question out there to all dopers, including those who may not be following this hijacked thread. Feel free to join in. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774/24 "2005-01-09T23:22:09Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I suspect that the concept of hibernation has been redefined behind my back, so I’m going to wait until I get more information before I destroy any kiddies loving images of mama bear sleeping peacefully through the cold, cold winter. > I just cannot “let it alone”. 😛 > I shall throw the question out there to all dopers, including those who may not be following this hijacked thread. > Feel free to join in. [Hibernation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation) > [@](#): > > Hibernation is a state of regulated hypothermia, lasting several days or weeks, that allows animals to conserve energy during the winter. During hibernation animals slow their metabolism to a very low level, with body temperature and breathing rates lowered, and gradual use up the body fat reserves stored during the warmer months. Some hibernating animals stir as often as once a week; others sleep throughout the season. > > . . . > > One animal that some consider to be a hibernator but is not a true hibernator is the bear. While its heart rate is slow, the bear’s body temperature remains relatively stable and it can be easily aroused. Other non-hibernators that are commonly assumed to be a hibernators include badgers, raccoons, and opposums. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774/25 "2005-01-10T03:11:16Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Are there any domesticated animals that can be said to have NO wild instincts? How about chickens? Or poodles? Never heard of a feral poodle. There are numerous populations of feral chickens around the world. The Bantam type breeds are remarkably close to the ancestral jungle fowl and retain all the instincts of their ancestors and go feral very easily. Event he larger breed slike leghorns retain the instintive drives to scrtach, hunt, crow etc. If there are no feral poodles it’s just because they are too rare and well cared for. Poodles are certainly perfectly capable of surviving in the wild. Contrary to their image as pampered wimps poodles are in fact a large, intelligent and fairly agressive breed of dog. They were bred for hunting and in large part because they are low maintainence. In many ways they are ideally suited to surviving with no human intervention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-define-wild-animal-instinct/283774.md?page=1)