Over the past year I have observed a phenomenon which concerns my female dog and changes in weather.
The fluctuations in weather have been rather pronounced, especially, this winter when the weather often transformed along a gradient involving the following basic, predominant conditions:
- ca. minus 10°C (but mostly below minus 10°C);
- ca. minus 5°C;
- around zero;
- above zero (but not above plus 5°C).
These conditions replaced one another relatively frequently (and sometimes eliminating the intermediate condition, e.g., dropping from zero to -10°C or rising from -10°C to zero without a brief period of ca. -5°C).
There was a shorter spell when the temperatures dropped below -10°C (to -15°C) and this also impacted the hormonal reactions I observed but I am mainly concerned with more ‘regular’ changes.
By ‘regular’ I do not wish to imply that there was a cyclic or otherwise discernibly repetitive and easily-predicted pattern to these changes.
I simply wish to state that these changes occurred frequently and often on week-by-week or even 3 to 5 day-by-3 to 5 day basis we went through several of these fluctuations.
I noticed that there were certain thresholds (and I have selected the 5°C intervals because they seemed significant to me) upon which my dog was not as active as usual and she appeared to undergo physiological adaptations to the new conditions that were expressed (also) as hormonal changes.
She was sleepier and she was producing more hormonal products which I recognized because I spend a lot of time in close proximity to my dog and I have a very acute sense of smell.
I could identify that the scent she gave off during these changes was very similar to the scent I have observed during actual pre-heat/early heat period.
Similarly, shortly prior to and early during the heat period she is sleepier and apparently needs more energy to adjust to the new hormonal state.
The resemblance between the reactions of her organism to these fluctuations in temperature (and weather that accompanies the temperature) and the reactions to the physiological preparations for oestrus was striking.
I should also say that the adaptations did not seem to occur when the weather changed (e.g., from sunny to rainy or from sunny to snowy) without the corresponding drop or rise in the temperature.
Surely, during rainy or snowy bouts she was also less active perhaps (but not necessarily) and her behaviour was altered but these changes did not result in hormonal adaptations and the leisurely behaviour was mostly related to rest and enjoyment of idle times rather than to actual need to invest energy in some physiological processes.
Accordingly, I believe that the temperature (and some more closely associated phenomena, e.g., the changes in the atmospheric pressure, changes in how moisture interacts with the temperature etc.) was the determinant factor to provoke these reactions.
These thresholds were comparatively subtle and the responses were rather unfailing.
For example, the changes were observed even if the temperature rose or fell only by a few degrees (e.g., from ca. -1°C to -4°C) and if the change persisted for only 2 – 3 days.
Accordingly, during some periods she was undergoing these adaptations almost every third day and it was obviously rather demanding.
It did not matter, either, that, for example, just 4 days ago the temperature levels were also ca. -5°C.
If the threshold had been crossed, the adaptations occurred anew.
The body did not appear to ‘remember’ the adaptations it had invoked very recently because there had been the ‘gap’ of significantly different temperature conditions between the two very similar periods.
Accordingly, I believe that extreme fluctuations that do not present a smooth enough gradient (e.g., two days at -5°C followed by two days at -4°C and then three days at -2°C vs. two days at -5°C followed by four days at -1°C) pose a demand for adaptation in animals which cannot be undergone without investment of energy and which interfere with activity levels and cognition (the adaptations do not occur ‘unnoticed’ to the individual who does not observe any significant changes in their own activity level, alertness, sleeping patterns etc.).
My dog is taken care of as most well-attended pets but if these (nowadays, extremely frequent) hormonal adaptations also occur in wild species, their wintertime activity (but probably also activity in other seasons because I do not suppose that the adaptations are only limited to the cold months) might be impeded.
Dogs do not hibernate, nor they enter a state of torpor which suggests that other species that remain active might be subjected to similar energy investments that also result in slight psychological and mental changes.
During these transformations, individuals might be less able to perform daily activities as they might be forced to devote more time to sleep, rest and their cognitive skills might be altered.
I do not believe that the cognitive skills become limited (that the animal somehow cannot think as sharply) but the cognition becomes directed inward probably following the internal transformations of their own body (and thereby becoming reduced in active presence in the external world).
I actually suspect that species that have evolved hibernation and torpor perhaps have done so because they are even less able to quickly adapt to perhaps smoother (historical) gradients.
I think it is not merely the inability to maintain metabolism during daily foraging etc. activities that has led to hibernation.
I believe an additional factor is concealed within how our bodies react to changing weather and the hibernating species might, for one reason or another, find themselves incapable of performing the necessary hormonal adaptations or extracting their cognition from the internally-focused state (making them less adept at foraging, avoiding predation etc.).
Perhaps species that are very much in touch with their own internal physiological proceedings become overwhelmed when their body has to perform under conditions that provoke certain hormonal states even if the weather gradient is smooth.
Just like some species in heat are very much focused on the breeding activity sometimes foregoing other important considerations (energy conservation, proper feeding, staying close to home, staying vigilant), these species – when exposed to environmental conditions that elicit similar hormonal responses – might be at risk if they are inclined to become similarly focused on states and behaviour that is not best for their survival during the stressful period.
I suppose that in many species it might be of utmost importance that they are in closer touch with their hormonal levels than other species are.
For example, species such as Eurasian badgers or brown bears that are known for delayed implantation might have a very thorough connection at all times with what is happening with the blastocysts in their bodies.
It is also known that some species can adjust their litter size to environmental conditions or they can adjust even the size of the embryos/fetuses (wild boar) which must entitle a very fine interaction between the female and her environment mediated through hormonal responses.
This, of course, does not explain the patterns in males but I believe that species which ‘avoid’ extreme weather events by partly or wholly shutting down their metabolism are also species who are at all times very aware of their hormonal state and the subtlest alterations in it with response to the environment.
Hibernation or torpor might thereby be a mechanism to also reduce the energy expenditure and cognitive risks related to the hormonal changes caused by the new weather conditions.
I attempted to follow my own hormonal responses during these drops and rises in temperature.
It was not easy because apparently I am not very finely attuned to my own hormonal states and I belong with a species (or a subset of species) who perhaps have been conditioned to perform regardless of their current physiological processes.
For example, highly social species (not merely species that form social aggregations but also species that cooperate intensely) might be less attuned to their individual hormonal state because they have to be able to invest in the group’s welfare regardless of their own energy level or other subtler states and they might have developed an understanding of their own hormonal state through the responses in conspecifics which makes them less drawn to ‘physiological introspection’.
Anyhow, I noticed that as the weather changed, I also exhibited some signs of hormonal changes which I could not truly detect on a level of smell or sleepiness but which provoked a certain mindset.
Namely, I was perceiving the world in a more vulnerable manner.
What is sometimes described as women being ‘touchy-feely’ when hormonal, in my eyes, is related to an evaluation process occurring in the prospective mother who is assessing the world she experiences not from her own mature perspective but from the perspective of her potential offspring.
I believe that when women become more sensitive and perhaps more easily frightened but also more readily overjoyed etc., it is due to the type of processing we are performing in order to see the world through the eyes (but also ears, noses etc.) of an infant.
Similarly, if a female (animal or human) becomes more aggressive during these hormonally intense periods, it might be a response aimed at testing (under safe circumstances, e.g., within her benevolent and understanding social group) whether she would be capable of defending her young from the actual threats she at the time perceives exist in the world.
However, I began observing my own states after I had noticed these responses in my dog and I cannot be certain if I did not evoke these responses rather than experience these responses naturally through awareness that there had to be some responses in the first place.
Notes by Ieva 