Phoenixes don't exist, but did you know they have a close cousin in the real world? The Common Poorwill does not burn and reemerge from the ashes, but it comes close. According to Cindy Hardin of the Los Angeles Audubon Society, the Poorwill slows down its heart rate and lowers its body temperature when it gets cold. A slowed metabolism removes the need to hunt and forage for weeks until it "comes alive" again in the spring. 
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