Winter has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. Happy today winter solsticeThe days will become a little longer, but the cold will remain. We humans usually cope with lower temperatures by stay inside, sleep moreAnd dressing in layers. What about the other members animal kingdom? Here are some unique ways animals survive the cold of winter.
Brumation Nation
To protect yourself from the winter cold, some reptiles and all amphibians are brumates. Brumation is essentially a less intense form of hibernation. Bears and other hibernating mammals spend most of their time sleeping. Instead, amphibians and reptiles experience a period of rest with small bursts of activity.
“In winter, brumation is like taking a long nap, getting up when it's a little warmer, going to the bathroom, drinking some water, and then going back to sleep.” Karen McDonaldsays the STEM program coordinator at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland. Popular Science. “In hibernation, you sleep all winter and rely on your fat stores.”
Reptiles and amphibians need to wake up to drink water to stay hydrated. They usually get up to have a refreshing drink on milder winter days. If they're lucky, they'll get a little more sun.
Frozen frogs
When cold fronts hit Florida, frozen iguanas will inevitably fall from trees. But for wood frogs found in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest, such cold weather is much more common. However, their decision is not unexpected. Instead, they freeze.
For months, tree frogs burrow under leaf litter on the forest floor without breathing, heartbeat or brain activity. As soon as the weather gets warmer they will come back to life. According to the National Park Servicethis strategy allows wood frogs to become active very early in the spring. The ground is thawing and warming faster than the ice-covered lakes in whose mud other frogs burrow. This means that newly active tree frogs may mate and lay eggs in small ponds earlier than other frogs.
Take care of those feathers
Not all bird species survive winter thanks to flying south to a warmer climate. Some, like cardinals, chickadees and blue jays, stay put. To survive the cold, they need to be taken very good care of. their feathers. Some species grow new feathers by winter. Other birds will fluff up their feathers to help hold air pockets around the body to keep warm. Preening also helps some birds waterproof their feathers by spreading oil from a gland near the tail to the rest of the body.
Birds will also find good places to squat or huddle with other birds of the same species. Winter berries and some other plants will also still producing fruit this will help them feed themselves until spring. A well stocked bird feeder can also help, just remember keep it clean.
Blue (crab) Christmas
blue crabs found in the Chesapeake Bay spend winters in the deeper parts of the bay. There they burrow into the mud underwater and enter a dormant state.
“This is not traditionally considered hibernation because, unlike some mammals, crabs do not undergo physiological changes that lower their body temperature,” Senior Research Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Matt Ogburn tells Popular Science. “However, they are still largely inactive and their metabolism is slowing.”
Blue crabs will stay that way until the water temperature reaches about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Lonely as an Oyster”
We don't say this oysters are lonely misers like Ebenezer Scrooge. These filter feeders are actually very good for the planet. Oyster beds serve as an important barrier to storms, and bivalves help keep the water clean. In one day an oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water.
They get most of their food by filtering water through their body and capturing nutrients such as algae and plankton. However, as winter approaches, these food sources become less abundant.
“Oysters feed desperately in the summer when there is a lot of algae around that needs to be filtered out of the water,” says Ogburn. “This helps them store glycogen, which they burn to survive the winter.”
They hibernate during the winter and survive on these sugar reserves, similar to how reptiles and amphibians rely on brumation.
Yes, turtles breathe with their butts.
Turtles spend the winter underwater, where they breathe out of your asses. It may seem a little unusual to us mammals, but butt breathing is an important survival strategy.
“This allows turtles, such as snapping turtles and painted turtles, to remain frozen under the ice and breathe underwater,” MacDonald says.
This process is called cloacal respiration, in which they exchange gases through the tissues lining the cloaca, the end of the digestive tract. This allows them to remain underwater for a longer period of time.
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