Hi, everybody. My name is Ranger Margo.
Welcome to Shenandoah National Park, where winter has arrived.
Now what do you think of when you hear "winter?"
What do you like to do in the wintertime?
I like to go hiking, build snow people, and go sledding down hills.
Winter can be really fun.
But there's also challenges that people have to face
when they go out in the wintertime.
Do you do anything differently when you prepare to go out in this cold?
Maybe you put on a coat or some boots in order to go have fun in the snow.
But what about the plants and animals of Shenandoah National Park?
How do they prepare for winter?
Winter brings colder temperatures, snow on the ground,
less sunlight and less food for these animals to eat.
So how do they survive?
They have to adapt.
That means to change in order to survive in the winter here.
Now, these changes can be in something that they do -- a behavioral adaptation,
or in something that they have -- a physical adaptation.
So, if you were an animal here in Shenandoah National Park,
what kind of adaptation would you want in order to survive here?
How would you survive these cold winter months?
Just like every person is different,
every animal might be different, too, in how they survive these winter months.
Maybe they like to go out and play.
Maybe they like to stay inside and prefer the warm, too.
But, if we head into Shenandoah National Park a little further,
and take a closer look, I bet that we'll see that
there's actually a lot going on, even on a quiet, snowy day like today.
One way to escape the cold is to move on to warmer places.
If you've ever heard the phrase "snowbirds," you may think of people
that like to go to warm places for the winter.
This phrase might give you a clue
as to what some of our birds and other animals do, too.
Some birds that are found in Shenandoah in the summer
will migrate south, out of the park, for the winter.
Now, migrating isn't
like going to the grocery store or going on a week-long vacation.
Migrating happens over longer periods of time.
So some birds, like the ruby throated hummingbird, or the Scarlet tanager,
will actually be out of the park for the entire winter.
Even some insects, like the monarch butterfly,
will migrate south to escape the colder temperatures.
Now, remember when you're exploring Shenandoah, it's always going to be
a little windier and colder at the top of the mountain.
So, instead of migrating south, you can try a hike
lower on the mountain to stay a little warmer.
But, not all animals can just leave the park or migrate.
So, what are some other ways that animals might be able
to escape the cold this winter?
Perhaps you prefer to do more indoor activities in the wintertime.
Some of our animals also like to get out of the cold,
so they'll go somewhere safe and warm to sleep.
Now, can you see any places that you would want to sleep in the forest behind me?
Maybe when you think of sleeping in the winter,
you think of hibernation -- animals that will go
underground, where it's warmer than at the surface of the ground,
and into their dens to sleep -- animals like our groundhogs.
But other animals, like our skunks, our raccoons,
and our bears; they're not true hibernaters where they sleep all winter.
Instead, they go through torpor.
They'll have long periods of sleep, but they still might wake up
to have a snack, if it's warm enough to find food.
I get pretty hungry after sleeping all night, too.
Now, while we're out exploring the park, we can find shelter in our cars
or under some shelters here in our park.
But our other animals have to get a little bit more creative.
Animals like those bears, skunks, and raccoons, they might find shelter
in tree cavities, underground in burrows, or even under rocks and logs.
But what about cold blooded animals?
animals like our frogs, our turtles, and our snakes,
they can't shiver, and they can't sweat, so they rely on the sun to keep them warm.
But in the winter time, there is not much sun, and there's not much warmth.
So what do they do instead?
Well, maybe you like to curl up with a nice blanket to keep warm.
These animals go through brumation,
a type of hibernation where they might curl up under a blanket
of ground, of water, of mud;
even up to two feet under dirt
in order to keep warm, only coming out for a nice drink.
Now, when you're exploring this park, keep in mind
to be like these animals and make sure you know how long your hike is,
so you can always get back to these warm places to get out of the cold.
Now we're able to put on a big coat and extra layers to keep warm,
but some animals have a harder time finding places to get out of the cold.
So, instead, they might have
to make their own warmth, since they can't put on earmuffs.
So, animals like our deer, our fox, our coyotes, or our bobcats,
they'll grow a little extra fur in the winter.
They grow a nice, thick outer coat of guard hairs that is often darker.
They also have small under hairs that grow closer
to the skin, to insulate and help keep them warm.
They're not the only ones.
Birds, like our eagles or our cardinals, that will stay in the park year-round,
they might grow some extra feathers,
and fluff them out in order to keep a little bit warmer.
If you've ever heard the phrase, "birds of a feather flock together," well,
that might be from when you see birds huddled in a tree,
or on a telephone wire, curled up together to keep warm.
Maybe you like to curl up with a loved one or a pet,
and you can relate to animals like these birds, or even animals
like the garter snakes that will brumate together, curl up
underground in hundreds or even thousands, in order to stay warm.
Or squirrels that, while they like to be alone in the summertime, they will curl up
together in tree cavities for that little bit of extra warmth.
One of the hardest challenges
that animals face in the winter is moving around in deep snow.
Now, unlike me, some animals, like deer,
have long legs to help them get through this snow.
They also have hooves that can help them with traction,
where people might use boots with good tread or spikes.
Now, other animals like the bobcat, have big paws
that they can spread their weight out.
People might use snow shoes for this same adaptation.
Now, other animals, like mice, are so small that they can scurry on
top of the snow, or burrow between the snow and the frozen ground.
Now, this is where an adaptation from a fox
might come in handy, with their big ears and good listening.
You may see a fox hunting in the winter.
When they listen, tip their head, and put their face close to the snow,
they're listening for that
scurrying of prey underneath the surface before they pounce.
Humans like to be able to mimic or copy
these adaptations that animals are so good at using in the winter.
That adaptation of the fox with those ears,
that's good at listening, we can mimic that, too!
Fox and deer have those tall ears.
So, if you cup your hands like a C and put them behind your ears,
it might sound like I'm talking a little bit louder.
But, if you turn your hands away from me,
it might sound like I'm talking a little bit quiet.
So we can use those same kinds of ears
to capture more sound when we're out exploring in our forests.
Winter is a great time to look for animals like the bright
red male cardinal that stands out against the white snow.
We can also look for tracks of animals walking through or over the snow.
But not every animal wants to stand out.
A lot of animals want to blend in, and some will even change
the color of their fur in the winter in order to blend in
a little better.
All of this exploring is using a lot of energy.
How do You think the animals make up for all this
extra energy that we use in the winter?
Animals will prepare for needing this extra energy
by eating extra food, or maybe different food, in the fall.
Bears will eat a lot of food in the fall,
to save up so they can sleep for a long time.
Squirrels will actually store their food, so that if they need food in the winter,
and it's harder to find underneath all of this snow,
they have a little bit stored up.
Deer love to eat grasses and leaves in the summertime,
and in the fall they'll eat fattier foods like acorns.
But, in the winter, there are no leaves on the trees.
So, if you were a deer in this forest, what might you eat instead?
Well, they can eat twigs, bark, mushrooms, or things that are easier
to find in these winter months, in order to survive.
But animals can also save this energy in order to survive in the winter.
Deer will grow antlers every year so that the males can attract the females
and fight other males with their antlers.
But, in the wintertime, they don't need these antlers,
and they get pretty heavy to carry around.
That's not saving much energy.
So instead, come winter, they might drop or shed these antlers.
We've learned a lot about the animals that can migrate and move out of the park,
that can go underground to sleep,
or that can stay active using their adaptations in the winter.
But what about the plants that are rooted in the ground?
What do you think they might do to survive?
What plants do to survive may sound pretty similar to what animals do to survive.
Now, plants can't migrate out of the park, but some plants will die
each year and regrow from new seeds.
Plants need photosynthesis in order to survive; that means
making their own food from sunlight.
Now, without a lot of sunlight and warmth in the winter time, plants
can't do this very easily, so they may drop their leaves and store
nutrients and food in their roots, and use that to survive
all winter until spring, kind of like some animals that hibernate.
Some plants Will be buried underneath a blanket of snow,
keeping them warm and protected from the wind, kind
of like animals that might burrow under the ground.
Now, evergreens are just that.
They're always green.
How do they do that?
Well, any adults that have cars may be familiar with
putting antifreeze in them in the winter to keep your engine from freezing.
Plants have an anti-freeze protein in their cells to keep them from freezing.
Now, this is important because if a tree gets too cold
and too frozen, it could even explode!
Now, these plants and animals, they have pretty amazing adaptations to survive.
But we, as visitors to Shenandoah, also need to learn
how to survive and adapt in this winter climate.
Remember to be like our plants and animals,
to survive and enjoy this winter wonderland.
Remember to pack extra layers to stay warm, pack extra food, to drink
lots of water, to have a plan to stay out of the cold and snow,
and to make sure that you stay safe on the trails by looking out for ice
and staying away from the edge.
While it may be more work to adapt to the winter,
there are so many reasons to come and explore:
the beautiful views through the trees in the winter, the frozen streams
and waterfalls, the snow, and the frost to come play in,
the quiet or the sounds of nature, and looking for signs
of animals and evidence of their adaptations that they're using.
If you were a plant or animal here in Shenandoah National Park,
what adaptations would you want to have?
I would want to be a deer, so that I can have long legs
to still be active in the snow,
and I wouldn't have to remember a coat -- I could just grow my own.
Now you can create your own winter animal,
with its own adaptations, and send it to us.
You can come to the park and send us your photos of you,
a plant, or an animal enjoying winter here,
and you can come make your own memories using your own adaptations.
Just enjoy and explore this winter wonderland.
But remember to have fun and stay safe by using your adaptations along the way.