Aestivation
state of animal dormancy similar to hibernation but taking place during the summer
Aestivation (Latin: aestas (summer); also estivation in American English) is a state of animal or plant dormancy, similar to hibernation, although taking place in the summer rather than the winter. Aestivation is characterized by inactivity and a lowered metabolic rate, that is entered in response to high temperatures and arid conditions. It takes place during times of heat and dryness, which are often the summer months.
Invertebrate and vertebrate animals enter an aestivating state to avoid damage from high temperatures and the risk of desiccation. Both terrestrial and aquatic animals undergo aestivation, as do many plants, such as Cyclamen, which have foliage and flowers in the winter, and become dormant in the summer. Fossil records suggest that aestivation may have evolved several hundred million years ago.
Physiology
Organisms that aestivate appear to be in a fairly "light" state of dormancy, as their physiological state can be rapidly reversed, and the organism can quickly return to a normal state.
The primary physiological and biochemical concerns for an aestivating animal are to conserve energy, retain water in the body, ration the use of stored energy, handle the nitrogenous end products, and stabilize bodily organs, cells, and macromolecules. This can be quite a task as hot temperatures and arid conditions may last for months, in some cases for years. The depression of metabolic rate during aestivation causes a reduction in macromolecule synthesis and degradation.
“Aestivation” enters the record as state of animal dormancy similar to hibernation but taking place during the summer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Aestivation, state and animal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q822123. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Aestivation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.