How Animals Survive Winter Months

How animals survive in winter Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. Http: www.dk.com About past energy modules Introduction The purpose of this evaluation is to investigate how animals survive in the cold winter. Through a few studies I did I found that warm-blooded animals used several methods to survive in the winter. It includes the following items. * Immigration Move many warmer areas to warmer areas * Insulate many animals with fur, fat or feather to isolate colds * Squeeze some animals together to keep each other warm by squeezing together

Some animals that know the limits skip the winter completely by limiting the life cycle to a warmer moon. Wild crickets hatch in the spring and then immediately go through the list of what they must do - complete their growth, mating, and laying before the early winter dies. If worms emerge in spring, prepare for a short life of sweet summer and worry about winter's predicament, eggs will survive in the cold

There are many winter survival strategies in the animal kingdom, but the most attractive one is hibernation. Some animals enter "fake death" state. Their breathing and heart rate slowed down, body temperature fell, even in some cases even below freezing. In many cases, they stop eating and quit excretion. As all this happens, animals can use less energy. Whether animals hibernate or move to warmer areas is often an evolutionary strange thing. Small animals tend to hibernate more easily as migration requires more energy than their size. Large animals need extra energy to warm large bodies so it is unlikely to hibernate

For warm blooded animals that do not move, one way to survive in the winter is to sleep through it. Hibernation is an excellent strategy to save energy when food is scarce. During hibernation, body temperature drops, breathing and heart rate decrease, most of the body's metabolic functions are suspended in quasi-false death. As body temperature drops dramatically, it seems as if warm blooded animals became cold-blooded. But they are still alive, they rely on their own fat preparation. Long-term dormancy can only be achieved by animals such as bears, groundhogs, and chips, which can store a large amount of body fat. Black bears lose 15% -30% during hibernation