Talk:Estivation

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Estivation: The poorly defined term estivation, which has been called "summer sleep", refers to a dormancy that some species both vertebrates and invertebrates enter in response to high ambient temperatures or danger of dehydration or both. Land snails such as Helix and Otala become dormant during long periods of low humidity after sealing the enterance of the shell by secreting a diaphragm-like operculum that retards loss of water by evaporation. Many land crabs similarly spend dry seasons in an inactive state at the bottom of their burrows.

Lungfish (Protopterus) seal themselves inside a cocoon, in which a small tube leads itself from the fish's mouth to the exterior to allow ventilation of the lungs. This state is probably similar physiologically to hibernation, but it differs in its seasonal timing.

Extracted from: Animal Physiology, Randall et al

Rich Farmbrough 14:38 6 March 2006 (UTC).

Why isent this in the actual article??? --RobH 04:14, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

"Both land-dwelling and aquatic mammals undergo estivation." Should the 'mammals' be changed to 'animals'? None of the following examples are mammals. Aotd 23:04, 20 August 2006 (UTC)