ABSTRACT
From the evolutionary point of view we may consider the phenomenon of hibernation as an adaptive mechanism for the conservation of energy during the winter season when food is difficult to obtain. Survival is a fundamental attribute in nature. Elevation of the serum magnesium appears to be a characteristic of hibernation. From several different laboratories have come reports of elevated serum magnesium during hibernation in the snail Helix pomatia, and in thirteen-lined ground squirrels, woodchucks, golden hamsters, little brown bats, big brown bats, and hedgehogs. The most extensive studies of the influence of magnesium on natural hibernation are those reported by Suomalainen. Suomalainen subsequently demonstrated that injecting magnesium solutions subcutaneously into hedgehogs and placing the animals in an icebox produced a condition of magnesium anesthesia entirely unlike natural hibernation. When magnesium and calcium ions were present together in similar concentrations the calcium ions modified the action of the magnesium ions.
