You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

So, a few weeks ago, I was sitting around just gazing outside my window.

Leaves or turning green, daffodils and tulips or popping up and doing their thing.

You know, just watching spring blossom in front of me.

When I think spring, I think bears.

Bears coming out of hibernation.

I mean, who doesn't?

Ray, I cannot tell you how excited I am to talk about this because I was like,

I know there's some cool physiology going on.

I'm going to read as much as I can about this before I talk to Ray so that she's impressed with me.

And I couldn't stop writing questions because there's so much.

There really is.

As you can hear, I was aggressively excited to talk to Ray Wynne Grant.

She's a large carnivore biologist who studies black bears.

Ray finds black bears, let's say, relatable.

Oh, I love that they eat and sleep so much.

It's like, honestly, they make me feel so close to them because their main drivers in life are about finding a lot of food

so that they can sleep for a long time.

Same spares.

It turns out that there's a lot more to hibernation than finding a sweet cave and taking along now.

So today, an in-depth look at hibernation and the unbelievable bear science that makes it possible.

I'm Maddie Cifaya, and this is Shortwave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR.

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