Bears and hibernation?

Bears do 'hibernate' but that doesn't mean a long period of uninterupted sleep and no eating. What it does mean is a period of reduced activity and increased sleep. They do eat but they consume fewer calories and therefore need to stock up on fat in summer and fall when food is more plentiful.

Bears typically lose quite a bit of weight over the winter because of the energy needed to survive the winter but they still eat a bit. Actually the activity level depends a bit on the sub-species and a lot on the climate. For example, if there is a mild winter the hibernation period is much less signficant.

Here in the rain forests of BC, black bears hardly hibernate at all because there is no period of extended snow cover. There is food available all year around and the bears are smart enough to take advantage of that. Of course they gorge themselves on the fall salmon runs but as true omnivores, they supplement that diet with lots of other food sources.

In a continental climate where there is a much longer colder winter, bears will significantly increase their sleep periods perhaps for several days or even weeks but they do 'come up for air' from time to time when the weather mellows and then go back to sleep for a while.

bears dont really hibernate, they go into a winter sleep

it's similar, but they can be woken up

during the sleep, the slow their metabolism down and conserve their energy and this allows them to survive when conditions are bad and food is scarce. if you ever see a video of it, they do move around, kind of like we do when we sleep. but no, they dont do other bodily functions such as eating because they survive off of fat storage and the sleep because there is no food!

its a survival skill that many animals employ in order to survive

it will not poop because it eats a lot i mean a lot to srvive the whole season but it can be waken up