A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
975 entries
estivation
A state of dormancy entered during hot, dry periods — the summer equivalent of hibernation. Desert toads, lungfish, snails, and some reptiles estivate by burrowing underground, slowing their metabolism, and waiting for rain.
Etymology
From Latin aestivare, to spend the summer, from aestas, summer. The word mirrors hibernation (from hibernare, to spend the winter) — one for the heat, one for the cold.