I think Mother Nature CAN be fooled...rather easily. Long daylight cycles, warm temps, etc. But this is the key - does it shorten lifespan? I have read articles in the past that hypothesized that box turtles have a pre-determined number of "awake days". They can be scattered over many, many years that are interrupted annually with a hibernation cycle, or they can be had in a continuous string of awake days over fewer years.

In other words - hibernation extends the number of years on planet earth. Interesting theory, but I have never seen any proof one way or the other...