Glad You Asked: When do bears start to hibernate?

 

When the weather gets cold this time of year, it's easy to be jealous of bears. (Not Chicago Bears. Those Bears are jealous of Packers).

Real bears spend the winter hibernating, just sleeping through the cold.

When do bears start to hibernate and how does it work? Glad You Asked!

"Usually in late Fall." said Milwaukee County Zoo North American area supervisor Dawn Fleuchaus. "So, here at the zoo, it's about the third week in November."

The Milwaukee County Zoo is actually one of the few zoos that let their bears hibernate.

"We try to do everything as natural as possible for our bears." Fleuchaus said. "We want to allow them to do anything that they would naturally be doing in the wild, if possible and this is something that is doable for us."

Both the grizzlies and black bears will hibernate. The polar bears do not hibernate.

The grizzlies and black bears will wake up again in March or early April.