Key To Human Heart Disease Could Lie With Hibernating Grizzly Bears

Washington State University’s Bear Center is currently looking at hibernation and how a bear can survive with a very low heart rate for an extended period of time.

"Humans or other animals could not do what the bears do in hibernation without developing heart failure," said Dr. Lynne Nelson, associate professor of Cardiology. "A bear’s heart rate is 80-90 beats per minute when active, but when hibernating its heart rate drops to 15-18 beats per minute."

"You can see the blood settling in the heart, and you can see actual… what looks like the beginning of clot formation, but they don’t actually form clots," Nelson said.

Full Story: http://wsunews.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=20498&TypeID=1