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Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activity or even survival difficult or near impossible. In some cases "winter" is characterized not ...
Many birds, mammals, and reptiles also practice social nesting or denning during cold weather and thus obtain the benefit of their partners’ body heat. Texas kangaroo rat burrow seen in a ...
Species that rely on cold weather conditions such as gyrfalcons, and snowy owls that prey on lemmings that use the cold winter to their advantage may be negatively affected. [24] [25] Climate change is also leading to a mismatch between the snow camouflage of arctic animals such as snowshoe hares with the increasingly snow-free landscape. [26]
Reptilian winter dormancy, or brumation, likely evolved to help reptiles survive colder conditions. Reptiles that are dormant in the winter tend to have higher survival rates and slower aging. [ 50 ] Reptiles evolved to exploit their ectothermy to deliberately cool their internal body temperatures.
An ectotherm (from the Greek ἐκτός (ektós) "outside" and θερμός (thermós) "heat"), more commonly referred to as a "cold-blooded animal", [1] is an animal in which internal physiological sources of heat, such as blood, are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature. [2]
Acclimatization or acclimatisation (also called acclimation or acclimatation) is the process in which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment (such as a change in altitude, temperature, humidity, photoperiod, or pH), allowing it to maintain fitness across a range of environmental conditions.
Humans are mammals, but human migration, as commonly defined, is when individuals often permanently change where they live, which does not fit the patterns described here. An exception is some traditional migratory patterns such as transhumance , in which herders and their animals move seasonally between mountains and valleys, and the seasonal ...
Many bird leave for the winter, migrating south to warmer climes. Those that stay avoid the hazards of migration and maintain a year-round territory. Ever wonder how birds stay warm in the winter?