Winter Sleepers
By Rene Wendell
November 2009
As they say, it’s time once again to batten down the hatches. The cold is now upon us. Last month was spent bringing in the last fruits of the orchard and gardens, putting in storm windows, cleaning out gutters, stacking firewood and loading up 
on heating oil before the price climbs. I have yet to break out the gloves or long-johns, but I am real close. This is a mental battle and not one of necessity because a few days have past now where I wish I have had them.
We are not unlike our fellow creatures in this respect. In fact, we are very similar to the animals that live in the Berkshires with us. We share the same challenges and surprisingly, deal with them in similar ways. Instead of long-johns, the bear puts on extra layers of fat for insulation against the cold. The chipmunk amasses a huge pile of nuts and seeds, just as some of us have baskets filled with apples and butternut squash in our pantries. Other animals have lined their dens with fur, feathers, soft pine boughs and fluffy plant material in an effort to create a cozy place to sleep. The need for warmth and shelter are universal amongst almost all of us here.
Some animals are already hibernating. One of our earliest sleepers is the woodchuck, old Punxsutawney Phil, the harbinger of spring or of a longer winter. He has been asleep now for weeks and will not wake up until the weather warms and day lengths are longer. He does this by doubling his body weight during the fall and storing it as readily accessible fat. He slows his metabolism down and thus lessens the need to burn this fat for energy. He lowers his heart rate considerably, slows his intake of oxygen and lowers his body temperature to just a few degrees above freezing and is almost impossible to wake up. Another true hibernator is our little brown bat who slumbers away in caves and other protected places. They 
don’t put on the pounds like woodchucks or bears, they store just enough fat to get them through to the spring when insects begin flying again in numbers. They occasionally wake up to defecate and drink, usually from the droplets of water that form on their bodies. Unfortunately, these guys are in trouble with a disease that causes them to burn through their fat reserves prematurely and many have been dying in recent years. Let’s hope they will survive this time of trial.
The most famous of the winter denizens, the bear, immortalized by Yogi and his plundering of picnic baskets in preparation for his winter snooze, is not a true hibernator. He is a light sleeper and is not even sleeping now, so watch out for your bird feeders because he loves those fatty, oil rich sunflower seeds. Bears will not retire until the weather gets really cold, say around mid-December. They do not reduce their body temperatures or metabolisms dramatically and often awake on warmer days in winter in search for food.
Some of the craziest of winter sleepers are our reptiles and amphibians. Most snakes will go deep underground into caves and fissures until they are below the frost line. Some species will sleep communally, sometimes in the thousands, sharing what little warmth can be had. Turtles will bury themselves into the underwater mud, not breathing air with their lungs but diffusing oxygen from the water through their cloacae, a specialized skin next to their tail opening. And, the wood frog is the strangest yet. It doesn’t even attempt to flee from the cold! It just buries itself in the forest leaf litter letting itself freeze almost solid! It protects its cells and vital organs with a type of natural antifreeze so no damage will occur, like frostbite. Then when the weather warms up all the frog does is thaw out and away it goes unharmed.
My favorite of all is the 
chipmunk. His accelerated and animated antics all year long are all in an effort to get through the upcoming season. It is almost impossible to stifle a smile when you see his cheeks burgeoning with pilfered seeds from beneath the bird feeder. Then when he sees you he freezes, then bolts away to his subterranean layer where he unburdens his load, adding to the gigantic pile of seeds and nuts that will see him through. Like the bear he is not a true hibernator, spending his time between sleeping and eating from his stash. I can picture him now like a miser with a hoard of gold always alert in that “ready to act” chipmunk fashion laughing at his luck and good fortune.
I was just now reminded not to forget the smallest and in many ways the most important of our Berkshire beasts, the insects. As I was typing a ladybug landed on my left hand. He or she has come indoors for winter. Insect hibernation is called diapauses, like the wood frog, those insects that don’t die-off in winter almost freeze completely solid. They too use glucose as an anti-freeze to ward off ice crystals from forming inside their cell walls which would cause them damage. Think windshield washer fluid and you can get the idea. Of course, my ladybug is safe here. I don’t mind sharing my office with another hardy Berkshireite that knows what it takes to withstand the seasons. We are both prepared and have found a cozy and warm place to call home.
About Rene Wendell - Introduced to nature by his father, Pittsfield, MA native Rene Wendell knew the names of wild creatures as a toddler. After living in Florida and Arizona Wendell returned to the Berkshires to obtain degrees from Berkshire Community College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and now works a conservation ranger for the Trustees of Reservations. As such, Wendell spends his days knocking back invasive plants, tracking rattle snakes, and teaching others about the great outdoors. He likes to hike, hunt, fish, bird watch, collect antiques, and go metal detecting with his 91-year-old father.