Uncovering The Potential Of Humans Hibernating Through Lemurs, Is It Possible?

JAKARTA - Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur, or Big-Tailed Dwarf Lemur, is known to be the only primate that hibernates during winter. However, this is done in the wild. What if in captivity? Could this animal hibernate as well as in the wild?

This is what researchers at the Duke Lemur Center, North Caroline, United States are trying to prove, who are trying to prove whether these animals can hibernate in captivity.

Usually, captive dwarf lemurs are given extra food during the summer period to help them out, as they usually do in the wild. Thus, allowing them to enter a state of suspended animation (low heart rate and body temperature).

Want to 'fight' the habit of lemurs in captivity that can't hibernate in winter. Scientists at the Duke Lemur Center, led by Marina Blanco, tried the experiment.

The team built the tree holes with gradually adjusted lighting and temperature to resemble the typical changing seasons in Madagascar, Africa, where these animals originated.

If the animals wake up, they are offered food, but otherwise, if they hibernate, they will be left alone and not disturbed. Previously, lemurs in captivity had never survived 'hibernation' for more than 24 hours.

"They don't disappoint. Our dwarf lemurs hibernate like their wild relatives in western Madagascar, "Blanco said, calling hibernation the lemur DNA.

During the hibernation period, the great-tailed dwarf lemur meets its intake needs from fat stored in its tail. Four months passed, and these lemurs woke up from hibernation.

They're lost between 22 and 35 percent less weight than initial weight. However, they are still in good health.

"We have been able to replicate their wild conditions well enough, to get them to replicate their natural patterns", explained Erin Ehmke, director of research at Duke Lemur Center.

How does it affect humans? From this research, we can gain insight into metabolic disorders that can be found in humans.

Although hibernating mammals can lie still for long periods of time without affecting their health, when humans are still lying down, our muscles start to stop growing and blood clots begin to form.

Human hibernation can have strong medical potential, especially for trauma victims with severe physical injuries. Some scientists think that could be the key to unlocking space travel, making missions to Mars more likely.

Last year Kelly Drew, a professor at the University of Alaska's Institute of Arctic Biology, told the Atlantic, "it's entirely possible humans can hibernate".

Usually, species that will hibernate in the wild are less likely to do so when they live in zoos and nature reserves. This is because hibernation usually occurs during cold periods, when the animal lowers its body temperature, slows its breathing and heart rate, and enters a period of metabolic depression.

However, in captivity, animals usually live in climate-controlled environments without the problem of scarcity of food, which means that seasonal hibernation is unnecessary.

But the great-tailed pygmy lemur is unique. So far they are the only primates and the only tropical mammals known to hibernate. This is very unusual because they are endemic to Madagascar, where the winter period is still tropical with high temperatures.

This species was first discovered hibernating (or aestivate, which is when hibernation occurs during warmer temperatures) in 2004 after researchers at the Philipps Marburg University in Germany published their findings in the scientific journal Nature.

The fat-tailed dwarf lemur was observed to hibernate in tree holes for seven months of the year, despite temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. The lead author of the 2004 paper, Kathrin Dausman, said that the success of hibernation status depends on how well the environmental conditions in which the tree holes are arranged.