Hibernation, our theme this month on Something I Heard, is one of those natural phenomena we collectively know about via Saturday morning cartoons. Which is to say, not well. In reality, hibernation is a coma-like state of suspended animation. Animals reduce their metabolic rate, temperature, heart rate and breathing in order to conserve energy during periods when food is scarce, typically in winter (though some animals hibernate in hot months). As for bears, well, they may be the first animals we picture when we think of hibernation but, unlike rodents and bats and fish - whose breathing and heart rate can drop from 50 to 90% of their waking lives - bears’ winter dormancy is more of a very deep sleep than true hibernation.
It’s the fifth and final Thursday in January and we’re hearing works along the theme of hibernation this month. Today, Nic Darlinton reads an excerpt from Colette’s essay “Hellebore.” Colette was a French novelist and writer of short stories. A pioneer of autobiographical fiction, she was best known for her sensuous writing and her novella, Gigi, made into a film in 1958.
Something I Heard is supported by Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
