phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:5301 DOI 10.1007/s00125-025-06611-3 Comparative physiology and biomimetics in metabolic and environmental health: what can we learn from extreme animal phenotypes? This review explores the remarkable metabolic adaptations of species that thrive in extreme environments, providing insights into their resilience, flexibility and disease resistance. Species such as hibernating brown bears, migratory birds, cavefish, Greenland sharks and naked mole rats exhibit unique metabolic traits that challenge conventional paradigms of metabolic regulation. These adaptations, including resistance to hypoxia and metabolic ageing, offer potential solutions to human metabolic disorders, including obesity, type 2 diabetes and CVD. Insights from comparative physiology, particularly the mechanisms by which animals cope with food scarcity, extreme temperatures and hypoxia, could help identify novel therapeutic targets for advancing human health. For example, hibernation can serve as a model for understanding metabolic diseases, providing insights into reversible insulin resistance and energy homeostasis. This review also highlights the impact of environmental stressors, including climate change, on these species, which may jeopardise their survival despite their resilience. Accelerating anthropogenic environmental change threatens even the most resilient animal species. We call for a holistic approach to conservation and environmental protection to preserve these species and the valuable lessons they offer for managing our metabolic health. eng Biomimetics Cardiovascular Disease Climate Change Comparative Physiology Exposome Hibernation Insulin Resistance Longevity Metabolic Adaption NrF2 Planetary Health Review 2026-07-13T09:27:58.426Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Stenvinkel;Peter; FN:Peter Stenvinkel X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8785-4820 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Kotanko;Peter; FN:Peter Kotanko END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Painer-Gigler;Johanna; FN:Johanna Painer-Gigler X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3929-511X END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Shiels;Paul G.; FN:Paul G. Shiels END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Evenepoel;Pieter; FN:Pieter Evenepoel END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Schurgers;Leon; FN:Leon Schurgers END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Natterson-Horowitz;Barbara; FN:Barbara Natterson-Horowitz END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Kalogeropoulu;Szilvia; FN:Szilvia Kalogeropoulu X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3689-6369 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Schiffman;Joshua; FN:Joshua Schiffman END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Johnson;Richard J.; FN:Richard J. Johnson END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 1390548 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5301 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:5301/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline