Comprachicos are groups in European folklore who were said to physically cripple and deform children to work as beggars or living curiosities. The most common methods said to be used in this practice included stunting children's growth by physical restraint , muzzling their faces to deform them, slitting their eyes, dislocating their joints, and causing their bones to malform. The term, a compound Spanish neologism meaning "child-buyers", was coined by Victor Hugo in The Man Who Laughs , an 1869 novel which triggered moral panics over supposed "cripple factories" across Europe. The words comprapequeños , cheylas and zaghles are also used. The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as mountebanks and freak show performers or were sold into bondage as pages, jesters , or court dwarfs .
57-580: One of the common creations of the comprachicos was supposed to be artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and dormice " and using drugs such as " dwarf elder , knotgrass, and daisy juice". The conception was known to Shakespeare , as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting A Midsummer Night's Dream : Get you gone, dwarf; You minimus , of hindering knot-grass made; Other means of creating this result were conjectured to include physical stunting by breaking or dislocating bones, and forcible constraint, whereby growth
114-476: A gestation period of 22–24 days. They can live for as long as five years. The young are born hairless and helpless, and their eyes do not open until about 18 days after birth. They typically become sexually mature after the end of their first hibernation. Dormice live in small family groups, with home ranges that vary widely between species and depend on the availability of food. One of the most notable characteristics of those dormice that live in temperate zones
171-408: A common proto-hibernating ancestor of birds and mammals, the ability to hibernate or go through torpor would have been lost in most larger mammals and birds. Hibernation would be less favored in larger animals because as animals increase in size, the surface area to volume ratio decreases, and it takes less energy to keep a high internal body temperature, and thus hibernation becomes unnecessary. There
228-526: A description of the Comprachicos: The Comprachicos worked on man as the Chinese work on trees. A sort of fantastic stunted thing left their hands; it was ridiculous and wonderful. They could touch up a little being with such skill that its father could not have recognized it. Sometimes they left the spine straight and remade the face. Children destined for tumblers had their joints dislocated in
285-399: A gang that blinds children to create beggars, something that is a known occurrence in some parts of India and China. "Comprachico" has been adopted as a morbid or pejorative term used for individuals and entities who manipulate the minds and attitudes of children in a way that will permanently distort their beliefs or worldview. Twentieth-century philosopher Ayn Rand referred to educators of
342-406: A later point. This difference in development is evidence, though inconclusive, that they evolved by slightly different mechanisms and thus at different times. As reptiles are ectothermic, having no system to deal with cold temperatures would be deadly in many environments. Reptilian winter dormancy, or brumation, likely evolved to help reptiles survive colder conditions. Reptiles that are dormant in
399-480: A masterly manner; thus gymnasts were made. Not only did the Comprachicos take away his face from the child; they also took away his memory. At least, they took away all they could of it; the child had no consciousness of the mutilation to which he had been subjected. Of burnings by sulphur and incisions by the iron he remembered nothing. The Comprachicos deadened the little patient by means of a stupefying powder which
456-505: A means to survive in their shoreline habitat, where water and oxygen levels vary with the tide. Other animals able to survive long periods with very little or no oxygen include goldfish , red-eared sliders , wood frogs , and bar-headed geese . The ability to survive hypoxic or anoxic conditions is not closely related to endotherm hibernation. Some animals can literally survive winter by freezing. For example, some fish , amphibians , and reptiles can naturally freeze and then "wake" up in
513-529: A modest decline in body temperature (3–5 °C) compared with the much larger decreases (often 32 °C or more) seen in other hibernators. Many researchers thought that their deep sleep was not comparable with true, deep hibernation, but this theory was refuted by research in 2011 on captive black bears and again in 2016 in a study on brown bears . Hibernating bears are able to recycle their proteins and urine, allowing them to stop urinating for months and to avoid muscle atrophy . They stay hydrated with
570-529: A periodic internal clock, which is likely triggered by cooler outside temperatures, as shown in the Texas horned lizard ( Phrynosoma cornutum ). One mechanism that reptiles use to survive hibernation, hypercapnic acidosis (the buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood), is also present in mammal hibernation. This is likely an example of convergent evolution . Hypercapnic acidosis evolved as a mechanism to slow metabolism and also interfere with oxygen transport so that oxygen
627-418: A physiological state wherein the body temperature drops to near ambient temperature, and heart and respiration rates slow drastically. The typical winter season for obligate hibernators is characterized by periods of torpor interrupted by periodic, euthermic arousals, during which body temperatures and heart rates are restored to more typical levels. The cause and purpose of these arousals are still not clear;
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#1732856135769684-415: A response to stressors from the environment. A good example of the differences between these two types of hibernation can be seen in prairie dogs . The white-tailed prairie dog is an obligate hibernator, while the closely related black-tailed prairie dog is a facultative hibernator. While hibernation has long been studied in rodents (namely ground squirrels ), no primate or tropical mammal
741-631: A savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans used a special kind of enclosure, a glirarium , to raise and fatten dormice for the table. It is still considered a delicacy in Slovenia and in several places in Croatia , namely Lika , and the islands of Hvar and Brač . Dormouse fat was believed by the Elizabethans to induce sleep since the animal put on fat before hibernating. In more recent years dormice have begun to enter
798-442: A seasonal diapause, where many of their biological functions end up paired with a seasonal rhythm within the organism. This is a very similar mechanism to the evolution of insect migration, where instead of bodily functions like metabolism getting paired with seasonal indicators, movement patterns would be paired with seasonal indicators. While most animals that go through winter dormancy lower their metabolic rates, some fish, such as
855-459: A variety of vocalisations. Dormice are omnivorous , and typically feed on berries, flowers, fruits, insects, and nuts. They are unique among rodents in that they lack a cecum , a part of the gut used in other species to ferment vegetable matter. Their dental formula is similar to that of squirrels , although they often lack premolars : Dormice breed once (or, occasionally, twice) each year, producing litters with an average of four young after
912-539: Is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibernation period of six months or longer. The word dormouse comes from Middle English dormous , of uncertain origin, possibly from a dialectal element *dor- , from Old Norse dár 'benumbed' and Middle English mous 'mouse'. The word
969-455: Is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate . It is most commonly used to pass through winter months – called overwintering . Although traditionally reserved for "deep" hibernators such as rodents , the term has been redefined to include animals such as bears and
1026-462: Is driven by environmental cues, but arousal is driven by physiological cues. Ancient people believed that swallows hibernated, and ornithologist Gilbert White documented anecdotal evidence in his 1789 book The Natural History of Selborne that indicated the belief was still current in his time. It is now understood that the vast majority of bird species typically do not hibernate, instead utilizing shorter periods of torpor . One known exception
1083-402: Is evidence that hibernation evolved separately in marsupials and placental mammals, though it is not settled. That evidence stems from development, where as soon as young marsupials from hibernating species are able to regulate their own heat, they have the capability to hibernate. In contrast, placental mammals that hibernate first develop homeothermy , only developing the ability to hibernate at
1140-400: Is hibernation. They can hibernate six months out of the year, or even longer if the weather does not become warm enough, sometimes waking for brief periods to eat food they had previously stored nearby. During the summer, they accumulate fat in their bodies to nourish them through the hibernation period. The edible dormouse ( Glis glis ) was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome , either as
1197-433: Is not used up and can still reach tissues in low oxygen periods of dormancy. Seasonal diapause, or arthropod winter dormancy, seems to be plastic and quickly evolving, with large genetic variation and strong effects of natural selection present as well as having evolved many times across many clades of arthropods. As such, there is very little phylogenetic conservation in the genetic mechanism for diapause. Particularly
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#17328561357691254-547: Is now applied based on active metabolic suppression rather than any absolute decline in body temperature. Many experts believe that the processes of daily torpor and hibernation form a continuum and utilise similar mechanisms. The equivalent during the summer months is aestivation . Hibernation functions to conserve energy when sufficient food is not available. To achieve this energy saving, an endothermic animal decreases its metabolic rate and thereby its body temperature. Hibernation may last days, weeks, or months—depending on
1311-439: Is referred to as diapause. Some researchers and members of the public use the term brumate to describe winter dormancy of reptiles, but the more general term hibernation is believed adequate to refer to any winter dormancy. Many insects, such as the wasp Polistes exclamans and the beetle Bolitotherus , exhibit periods of dormancy which have often been referred to as hibernation, despite their ectothermy. Botanists may use
1368-897: Is sometimes conjectured to come from an Anglo-Norman derivative of dormir 'to sleep', with the second element mistaken for mouse , but no such Anglo-Norman term is known to have existed. The Latin noun glīs , which is the origin of the scientific name, descends from the Proto-Indo-European noun *gl̥h₁éys 'weasel, mouse', and is related to Sanskrit गिरि ( girí ) 'mouse' and Ancient Greek γαλέη ( galéē ) 'weasel'. Dormice are small rodents, with body lengths between 6 and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in), and weight between 15 and 180 g (0.53 and 6.35 oz). They are generally mouse -like in appearance, but with furred tails . They are largely arboreal , agile, and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal . Dormice have an excellent sense of hearing and signal each other with
1425-492: Is the common poorwill ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ), for which hibernation was first documented by Edmund Jaeger . Because they cannot actively down-regulate their body temperature or metabolic rate, ectothermic animals (including fish, reptiles, and amphibians) cannot engage in obligate or facultative hibernation. They can experience decreased metabolic rates associated with colder environments or low oxygen availability ( hypoxia ) and exhibit dormancy (known as brumation). It
1482-425: Is thought to have originally evolved in three stages. The first is development of neuroendocrine control over bodily functions, the second is pairing of that to environmental changes—in this case metabolic rates decreasing in response to colder temperatures—and the third is the pairing of these controls with reliable seasonal indicators within the arthropod, like biological timers. From these steps, arthropods developed
1539-734: Is very uncommonly used in modern English except in reference or allusion to the antiquated folklore, but similar stories do exist in the English-speaking world. For instance, a tale circulating since at least the 1980s tells of a Japanese bride who disappears during her honeymoon in Europe ; years later her husband discovers she has been abducted, mutilated, and forced to work in a freak show. The shock documentary Mondo Cane (1962) shows apparently actual criminals arrested for crippling children to be used as beggars. The novel Q & A (2005) and its film adaptation Slumdog Millionaire (2008) portrays
1596-606: The cunner , do not. Instead, they do not actively depress their base metabolic rate, but instead they simply reduce their activity level. Fish that undergo winter dormancy in oxygenated water survive via inactivity paired with the colder temperature, which decreases energy consumption, but not the base metabolic rate that their bodies consume. But for the Antarctic yellowbelly rockcod ( Notothenia coriiceps ) and for fish that undergo winter dormancy in hypoxic conditions, they do suppress their metabolism like other animals that are dormant in
1653-412: The metabolic water that is produced in sufficient quantities to satisfy the water needs of the bear. They also do not eat or drink while hibernating, but live off their stored fat. Despite long-term inactivity and lack of food intake, hibernating bears are believed to maintain their bone mass and do not suffer from osteoporosis . They also increase the availability of certain essential amino acids in
1710-556: The QT interval changed for both typical hibernators and the bears from summer to winter. This 1977 study was one of the first evidences used to show that bears are hibernators. In a 2016 study, wildlife veterinarian and associate professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences , Alina L. Evans, researched 14 brown bears over three winters. Their movement, heart rate , heart rate variability , body temperature, physical activity, ambient temperature, and snow depth were measured to identify
1767-561: The ancestor of birds and mammals onto land introduced them to seasonal pressures that would eventually become hibernation. This is true for all clades of animals that undergo winter dormancy; the more prominent the seasons are, the longer the dormant period tends to be on average. Hibernation of endothermic animals has likely evolved multiple times, at least once in mammals—though it is debated whether or not it evolved more than once in mammals—and at least once in birds. In both cases, hibernation likely evolved simultaneously with endothermy, with
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1824-567: The animal to restore its available energy sources or to initiate an immune response. Hibernating Arctic ground squirrels may exhibit abdominal temperatures as low as −2.9 °C (26.8 °F), maintaining sub-zero abdominal temperatures for more than three weeks at a time, although the temperatures at the head and neck remain at 0 °C (32 °F) or above. Facultative hibernators enter hibernation only when either cold-stressed, food-deprived, or both, unlike obligate hibernators, who enter hibernation based on seasonal timing cues rather than as
1881-481: The animal to study key hibernation proteins (HP). Researchers have studied how to induce hibernation in humans. The ability to hibernate would be useful for a number of reasons, such as saving the lives of seriously ill or injured people by temporarily putting them in a state of hibernation until treatment can be given. For space travel, human hibernation is also under consideration, such as for missions to Mars . Anthropologists are also studying whether hibernation
1938-554: The bears' heart rate variability dropped dramatically, indirectly suggesting metabolic suppression is related to their hibernation. Two months before the end of hibernation, the bears' body temperature starts to rise, unrelated to heart rate variability but rather driven by the ambient temperature. The heart rate variability only increases around three weeks before arousal and the bears only leave their den once outside temperatures are at their lower critical temperature. These findings suggest that bears are thermoconforming and bear hibernation
1995-455: The drivers of the start and end of hibernation for bears. This study built the first chronology of both ecological and physiological events from before the start to the end of hibernation in the field. This research found that bears would enter their den when snow arrived and ambient temperature dropped to 0 °C. However, physical activity, heart rate, and body temperature started to drop slowly even several weeks before this. Once in their dens,
2052-612: The earliest and most primitive glirid taxon; the oldest species, Eogliravus wildi , is known from isolated teeth from the early Eocene of France and a complete specimen of the early middle Eocene of the Messel pit in Germany. They appear in Africa in the upper Miocene and only relatively recently in Asia. Many types of extinct dormouse species have been identified. During the Pleistocene , giant dormice
2109-623: The earliest suggested instance of hibernation being in Thrinaxodon , an ancestor of mammals that lived roughly 252 million years ago. The evolution of endothermy allowed animals to have greater levels of activity and better incubation of embryos, among other benefits for animals in the Permian and Triassic periods. In order to conserve energy, the ancestors of birds and mammals would likely have experienced an early form of torpor or hibernation when they were not using their thermoregulatory abilities during
2166-449: The hole is poorly insulated, the lemur's body temperature fluctuates widely, passively following the ambient temperature; if well insulated, the body temperature stays fairly constant and the animal undergoes regular spells of arousal. Dausmann found that hypometabolism in hibernating animals is not necessarily coupled with low body temperature. Historically it was unclear whether or not bears truly hibernate, since they experience only
2223-459: The late 20th century, since it is dissimilar from hibernation seen in rodents. Obligate hibernators are animals that spontaneously, and annually, enter hibernation regardless of ambient temperature and access to food. Obligate hibernators include many species of ground squirrels , other rodents , European hedgehogs and other insectivores , monotremes , and marsupials . These species undergo what has been traditionally called "hibernation":
2280-666: The mother hibernates or shortly afterwards. For example, female black bears go into hibernation during the winter months in order to give birth to their offspring. The pregnant mothers significantly increase their body mass prior to hibernation, and this increase is further reflected in the weight of the offspring. The fat accumulation enables them to provide a sufficiently warm and nurturing environment for their newborns. During hibernation, they subsequently lose 15–27% of their pre-hibernation weight by using their stored fats for energy. Ectothermic animals also undergo periods of metabolic suppression and dormancy , which in many invertebrates
2337-400: The muscle, as well as regulate the transcription of a suite of genes that limit muscle wasting. A study by G. Edgar Folk, Jill M. Hunt and Mary A. Folk compared EKG of typical hibernators to three different bear species with respect to season, activity and dormancy, and found that the reduced relaxation (QT) interval of small hibernators was the same for the three bear species. They also found
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2394-628: The pet trade, though they are uncommon as pets and are considered an exotic pet . The woodland dormouse ( Graphiurus murinus) is the most commonly seen species in the pet trade. Asian garden dormice ( Eliomys melanurus ) are also occasionally kept as pets. The Gliridae are one of the oldest extant rodent families, with a fossil record dating back to the early Eocene . As currently understood, they descended in Europe from early Paleogene ischyromyids such as Microparamys ( Sparnacomys ) chandoni . The early and middle Eocene genus Eogliravus represents
2451-556: The question of why hibernators may return periodically to normal body temperatures has plagued researchers for decades, and while there is still no clear-cut explanation, there are multiple hypotheses on the topic. One favored hypothesis is that hibernators build a " sleep debt " during hibernation, and so must occasionally warm up to sleep. This has been supported by evidence in the Arctic ground squirrel . Other theories postulate that brief periods of high body temperature during hibernation allow
2508-719: The size of rabbits, Leithia melitensis , lived on the islands of Malta and Sicily . The family consists of 29 extant species, in three subfamilies and (arguably) nine genera: Cladogram of most living and recently extinct dormice genera based on mitochondrial DNA after Petrova et al. 2024: Graphiurus (African dormice) Glirulus (Japanese dormouse) Glis (edible dormice) Muscardinus (hazel dormouse) Myomimus (mouse-tailed dormice) Selevinia (desert dormouse) Dryomys (woolly and forest dormice) Eliomys (garden dormice) † Hypnomys (Balearic dormice) Family Gliridae – Dormice † indicates an extinct species. Hibernation Hibernation
2565-536: The species, ambient temperature, time of year, and the individual's body-condition. Before entering hibernation, animals need to store enough energy to last through the duration of their dormant period, possibly as long as an entire winter. Larger species become hyperphagic , eating a large amount of food and storing the energy in their bodies in the form of fat deposits. In many small species, food caching replaces eating and becoming fat. Some species of mammals hibernate while gestating young, which are born either while
2622-434: The spring. These species have evolved freeze tolerance mechanism such as antifreeze proteins . Hibernation induction trigger (HIT) proteins isolated from mammals have been used in the study of organ recovery rates. One study in 1997 found that delta 2 opioid and hibernation induction trigger (HIT) proteins were not able to increase the recovery rate of heart tissue during ischemia. While unable to increase recovery rates at
2679-488: The term "seed hibernation" to refer to a form of seed dormancy . There is a variety of definitions for terms that describe hibernation in mammals, and different mammal clades hibernate differently. The following subsections discuss the terms obligate and facultative hibernation. The last two sections point out in particular primates, none of whom were thought to hibernate until recently, and bears, whose winter torpor had been contested as not being "true hibernation" during
2736-564: The time as "the Comprachicos of the mind" in her article "The Comprachicos". Her criticism was targeted especially toward educational progressivists , but also grade-school and high-school educators who, in her view, used psychologically harmful methods of education. James Ellroy refers to them and Victor Hugo's novel in The Black Dahlia , where the concept is a major motivation for the murder of Elizabeth Short . Dormice Graphiurinae Leithiinae Glirinae A dormouse
2793-798: The time of ischemia, the protein precursors were identified to play a role in the preservation of veterinary organ function. Recent advances in recombinant protein technology make it possible for scientists to manufacture hibernation induction trigger (HIT) proteins in the laboratory without the need for animal euthanasia. Bioengineering of proteins can aid in the protection of vulnerable populations of bears and other mammals that produce valuable proteins. Protein sequencing of HIT proteins, such as α 1-glycoprotein-like 88 kDa hibernation-related protein HRP, contributes to this research pool. A study in 2014 utilizes recombinant technology to construct, express, purify, and isolate animal proteins (HP-20, HP-25, and HP-27) outside of
2850-444: The timing and extent of the seasonal diapause seem particularly variable, currently evolving as a response to climate change . As typical with hibernation, it evolved after the increased influence of seasonality as arthropods colonized terrestrial environments as a mechanism to keep energy costs low, particularly in harsher than normal environments, as well as being a good way to time the active or reproductive periods in arthropods. It
2907-440: The transition from ectothermy to endothermy. This is opposed to the previously dominant hypothesis that hibernation evolved after endothermy in response to the emergence of colder habitats. Body size also had an effect on the evolution of hibernation, as endotherms which grow large enough tend to lose their ability to be selectively heterothermic, with bears being one of very few exceptions. After torpor and hibernation diverged from
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#17328561357692964-403: The winter tend to have higher survival rates and slower aging. Reptiles evolved to exploit their ectothermy to deliberately cool their internal body temperatures. As opposed to mammals or birds, which will prepare for their hibernation but not directly cause it through their behavior, reptiles will trigger their own hibernation through their behavior. Reptiles seek out colder temperatures based on
3021-412: Was inhibited for a long enough period to create permanent deformation. Because of the demand for dwarfs and other novelties in the courts of kings at this time, this could have been a profitable occupation. Victor Hugo 's novel The Man Who Laughs is the story of a young aristocrat kidnapped and disfigured by his captors to display a permanent malicious grin. At the opening of the book, Hugo provides
3078-422: Was known to hibernate until the discovery of hibernation in the fat-tailed dwarf lemur of Madagascar, which hibernates in tree holes for seven months of the year. Malagasy winter temperatures sometimes rise to over 30 °C (86 °F), so hibernation is not exclusively an adaptation to low ambient temperatures. The hibernation of this lemur is strongly dependent on the thermal behaviour of its tree hole: If
3135-494: Was once thought that basking sharks settled to the floor of the North Sea and became dormant, but research by David Sims in 2003 dispelled this hypothesis, showing that the sharks traveled long distances throughout the seasons, tracking the areas with the highest quantity of plankton . Epaulette sharks have been documented to be able to survive for three hours without oxygen and at temperatures of up to 26 °C (79 °F) as
3192-414: Was possible in early hominid species. As the ancestors of birds and mammals colonized land, leaving the relatively stable marine environments, more intense terrestrial seasons began playing a larger role in animals' lives. Some marine animals do go through periods of dormancy, but the effect is stronger and more widespread in terrestrial environments. As hibernation is a seasonal response, the movement of
3249-430: Was thought to be magical and which suppressed all pain. According to John Boynton Kaiser, "Victor Hugo has given us a pretty faithful picture of many characteristic details of social England of the 17th century; but the word Comprachicos is used to describe a people whose characteristics are an unhistorical conglomeration of much that was once actual but then obsolete in the history of human society." The term comprachico
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