What does a frogmouth do when times get tough? Carrie Straight 05.25.01 When times get tough for some animals, the tough get going. Others hibernate. Birds can’t hibernate. When times get tough, food becomes scarce or the weather turns bad, some birds migrate and some go into torpor. Torpor is when birds lower their body temperature to conserve energy. In the past scientists believed that only small birds (< 80 g) could enter torpor, because researchers had only documented torpor only in small birds. To find out if larger birds enter torpor, some researchers observed tawny frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) from Australia. Tawny frogmouths weigh about 500 g. They were a good candidate for this research because their food (insects) becomes scarce during the winter and they are not known to migrate great distances to find new food. The researchers captured 7 frogmouths and put a transmitter on them that recorded each bird's body temperature throughout the day. The researchers then compared the temperatures of each bird to an average body temperature. All 7 birds entered torpor during the winter (their body temperature dropped below normal when temperatures were low), especially when it was cold. Because these researchers found that this “large” bird entered torpor, there might be more birds that use this technique to survive when times get tough. Körtner, Gerhard, R. Mark Brigham, and Fritz Geiser. 2000. Winter torpor in a large bird. Nature 407: 318. ©2001 The Aurora Collection, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Site Development by: Interactive Multimedia. Inc.