The Great Outdoors: How Does Wildlife Survive Winter?

| February 9, 2017

S1340014Just how does wildlife survive winter?

It’s not a question that has to be considered much in this region anymore.

This winter has featured relatively few days with extreme conditions of deep snow, low temperatures, and sub-zero wind-chill that can quickly deplete the fat reserves of many critters.

And, it’s likely that we won’t be getting such conditions any time soon.

Wildlife are built to endure very harsh conditions, and all species know how to regulate their bodies and conserve energy. Many others just don’t deal with it.

Reptiles, amphibians, and many mammals hibernate. Their heart rates decrease to an incredibly slow pace, and they hide themselves in locations where they don’t have to deal with some of the harsh conditions.

Other critters, such as squirrels or raccoons, just hole up when it gets nasty.

Many song birds fly south to warmer climates where food is more readily available. Even song birds that stay here in winter – chickadees, cardinals, and juncos take advantage of the bird feed that we put out for them.

White-tailed deer, rabbits, and wild turkeys, along with predators such as fox, coyotes, and bobcats, have the toughest time. Still, they have many ways to survive tough times, too.

Predators and deer have fur that we still use in garments to stay warm in the cold. Canine predators will lay low, curling up in dense cover with their noses in their tails to stay warm. As for food, they are very opportunistic. If they can grab it and kill it, they’ll eat it.

Bobcats den up in big rocks and don’t need much food to get by.

For deer, the hair in their coats is truly remarkable. This description from tinks.com is very illustrative.

“The guard hairs are a little more than twice as long, thicker, and tend to be ‘kinkier’ than the sleek summer guard hairs. They are also hollow, and this trapped air provides excellent insulation. Surprisingly, there are only about half as many guard hairs on the winter coat than the summer coat – about 2,500 to the square inch, but they are twice as thick. The winter coat is gray or dark brown with reddish-brown tips, although some black-tipped hairs are scattered throughout. The darker color absorbs more solar energy, and may help reduce energy expenditure during winter.”

“Although the coarse, hollow guard hairs of the winter coat provide good insulation, it is the finer, wooly underfur that provides the greatest insulative value. These shorter, finer, twisting hairs trap layers of warm air close to the skin. Although finer, these under hairs are much more numerous than the guard hairs. There may be five times as many.”

However, it seems to me that deer in more northern regions have much denser amounts of underfur than deer in the south, as you would expect. The long guard hairs coupled with the thick underfur provide such good protection against the cold that snow can accumulate on a deer’s back without melting.

Deer can further increase the insulative value of their fur by ‘puffing out’ their hair. Each hair shaft is attached to a tiny bundle of muscles called arrector pili muscles. In response to cold, the muscles contract causing the hair to stand on end – exactly what happens when humans get ‘goose bumps’. This erection of the hairs results in a thicker layer of insulation and helps deer maintain their body temperature even in extreme cold. As anyone who as ‘fallen in’ while duck hunting can attest, a wet coat doesn’t have much insulating ability.

To help keep dry, deer manufacture their own water repellent. Associated with each hair follicle is a small gland called a sebaceous gland that secretes an oily or greasy material called sebum. This oil then coats the hair to keep it from becoming brittle and also help shed water.

Adult turkeys have about 6,000 feathers, and they are arranged in patterns known as feather tracts which help keep them warm.

Considering the mast crop that existed this fall, wildlife entered the season about as fat as they could possibly be, and that is also a very important part of making it through winter.

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“The Great Outdoors,” sponsored by the Pennsylvania Great Outdoors, is a weekly blog by exploreClarion.com’s Scott Shindledecker. Plan your next outdoor adventure at VisitPAGO.com or call (814) 849-5197 for more information.


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