Abstract：Torpor (including hibernation, estivation, and daily torpor)in mammals is one of the most attractive physiological phenomena in life science. Some mammal species use torpor to survive harsh environments such as cold, food shortage and drought. Physiological and/ or ecological research into torpor of mammals has potential implications in biomedicine in situations such as trauma treatment, organ transplantation and spaceflight. This review briefly introduces several aspects of torpor in mammals:1) Types of torpor in mammals according to the season and duration of mammalian torpor, the source and storage form of the fuel used in torpor, and the signals initiating torpor. 2) The systematic distribution of the mammal species utilized torpors. 3)The general properties in body temperature and metabolic rate which occurr in hibernation and hibernation bouts of mammals in temperate and arctic zone, and in the tropics where the diurnal hibernacula temperatures fluctuate acutely. We also introduce the patterns of other kinds of torpor, such as daily torpor.
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