How mice prepare for winter

You will learn how mice prepare for winter in this article.

How do mice prepare for winter?

Vole bears living in the wild begin to prepare for the onset of cold weather from the end of summer. We all know that with the onset of winter, an unexpected guest in the guise of a mouse may appear at home. She probably became too lazy to prepare for winter, and she decided to make her task easier - to settle in a human dwelling. Well, it’s warm and there’s something to eat. But what if a mouse lives in a field?

First of all, the mouse begins to expand its hole - it expands the “bedroom”, as it will insulate it and dig out new storage rooms for winter supplies. They spend the entire winter period in a mink. They insulate their bedroom with dry grass, moss, hairs and fluff. The animal itself also changes - the fur changes color and becomes thicker. And the body accumulates nutrients and fats. It is worth noting that the body temperature of mice in winter can drop to the temperature of an icicle, but they do not die.

The mouse begins to carry food supplies for the winter into its pantries. It can be grains, seeds, dried fruits or grass. It happens that up to 5 kg of grain was found in mouse holes! These mice are such thrifty housewives.

We hope that from this article you learned how mice prepare for winter.

Hello guys! What time of year is approaching us? That's right, winter! We're now in late fall and getting ready for winter, right? How can we humans prepare for it? (We buy warm clothes, prepare supplies for the winter, insulate our houses, close up the windows, etc.). Guys, do you know that animals living in the forests prepare for winter almost the same way as we do! They also make edible reserves, insulate their burrows, exchange their summer skins for winter ones, and some animals even spend the entire winter in deep sleep! Today we will talk to you about how different animals prepare for the coming of winter. You tell me something, and I tell you something!
The first animal that we will talk about today is the owner of all forests - the bear. What do you know about him? (children's answers)
The bear's main food consists of berries, nuts, roots, bulbs, ants, beetle larvae and fish. This helps him accumulate fat for the winter. Brown bears make their den in a hidden, inaccessible place. Most often, it is under the root of an upturned tree or in a windfall. In November, the bears climb there and fall asleep. Bears sleep restlessly. If they are disturbed by something, they can abandon the den and build another one. In a mother bear's den, cubs are born, usually 1-2, rarely 3. They are very small, the size of a mitten. Mother bear feeds them milk for 8 months. and even when she sleeps in winter.

The next animal we will talk about is the lynx. Lynx does not hibernate. Among all representatives of the cat family, the lynx is best adapted to cold weather. She moves excellently in deep snow and climbs trees. Favorite prey of lynxes are hares, black grouse, and hazel grouse. Sometimes she attacks young wild boars; in a hungry winter, she can feed on small rodents. In winter, moose especially suffer from lynxes, when it is difficult for these long-legged animals to move through deep and loose snow. By winter, the lynx's fur becomes thick, fluffy and soft, and the lynx's paws are heavily furred so as not to feel the cold.

Hare. As we know, before the onset of winter, the hare changes its gray skin to white. In winter they feed on bark, small twigs of aspen, willow, and birch. In winter, a fallen tree can become a real hare's dining room, where the animals visit every day until they gnaw off all the bark. They have no permanent home. In extreme cold, they hide under snow-covered bushes.

Hedgehog. When it gets cold, hedgehogs need to accumulate fat, and in the fall, hedgehogs have little prey. Worms hide in the ground, nimble lizards hide. It's hard to find bugs and frogs. On clear autumn days, the hedgehog prepares a warm nest for wintering. Night and day, it drags dry leaves and soft forest moss into the hole. The hedgehog spends more than six months in hibernation. During this time he does not eat anything or move. He sleeps curled up in a ball, in a den, under a deep snowdrift, as if under a thick, fluffy blanket. And he sleeps like this all winter, until the spring sun.

Squirrel. Many rodents also make winter reserves. Squirrels, which sleep in winter only in very severe frosts, need capital reserves. Unlike many other animals, squirrels use their reserves together. In the fall, they hide acorns and nuts in the forest floor, in hollows, and in the ground. Not only the owner herself, but also any other squirrel can get them from there. They also store mushrooms in a special way: they string them on tree branches or stuff them into forks between the branches. By winter, the coat of this animal becomes very soft and fluffy, and the color is grayish. She builds her nest on tall spruce or pine trees. Inside the nest there is soft grass, moss, and balls of wool. In severe frosts, the squirrel does not crawl out of its hollow, and may even fall asleep.

Foxes and wolves. These predators certainly don't sleep. By winter, these animals' fur becomes thicker. In winter, wolves unite in large packs. Their victims are wild boars, hares, and roe deer. And foxes attack smaller animals - hares, small rodents, birds. Burrows are usually dug in groves, on the slopes of hills and ravines.

Beavers. In autumn, the beaver family is busy preparing food. Alone, and sometimes together, beavers easily fell aspen and willow. They build themselves strong huts. The entrance to it is always located under water so that the enemy does not get close. In winter, it is warm inside the beaver’s home, the temperature is above zero.

Hamsters. As autumn approaches, hamsters begin to actively organize pantries in preparation for winter. And most place them right in the mouth, where they hide the food behind the cheeks. These animals are rightfully considered the most thrifty.

Elk. They live in the forests. Closer to autumn, when lingonberries and blueberries ripen, moose love to eat them directly with the twigs; they also love mushrooms, even looking for them specifically. In winter, moose gnaw the bark of aspen, rowan and willow trees. At the end of autumn it sheds its antlers, and by spring it grows new ones. They are not preparing a permanent home. It is difficult for them in winter, when the snow floor is very deep, because it is not easy to cross it with such long legs.

Wood mice, voles. All of them are very voracious, stocking up on seeds and berries. In winter, when everything around is covered with snow, the animals dig tunnels in the snowdrifts, and can also live in haystacks and buildings.

Quiz “How animals winter”

1. What do animals do to protect themselves from the cold?
- fly to warmer climes
- change the summer coat to a warmer and lighter winter coat
- change the summer coat to a warmer and brighter winter one

2. What animal does not change its coat in winter?
- squirrel
- hare
- hedgehog

3. Which other animal sleeps all winter?
— badger
- fox
- wolf

4. What is the first thing that animals hibernating need?
- Fat reserves under the fur coat
- silence
- peace

5. The hare has no fat reserves. What does he eat in winter?
— Tree bark and twigs
- carrots
- cabbage

6. What do predators eat in winter: wolves and foxes?
- tree bark and twigs
- small animals
- are starving

Who's the odd one out here?

— Having eaten enough during the summer, bears, badgers, mice and hedgehogs hibernate at the beginning of winter.
(Mice don’t sleep in winter, and you can’t see them because they move under the snow. But foxes always know where the mouse is, they can smell it through the snowdrift)

— A wolf, a fox and an elk are scouring the snowy forest in search of prey.
(Elk is not a predator. Like all ungulates, it is a herbivore, and when there is no fresh grass, it eats branches and last year’s grass)

— Elks, wild boars, weasels, hares and roe deer in winter feed on branches, roots, plant bark and fresh leaves.
(Weasels are predators, catching mice and birds. Unfortunately, there are no fresh leaves in the forest in winter, so it’s difficult for them)

Well done guys! They told me everything correctly! Well, now I will show you a cartoon!

Winter is a difficult period in the life of the entire animal world. Everyone prepares for winter differently. Animals take care of food and shelter in advance.

They prepare especially diligently for winter - they stock up on supplies, mice and voles.

Many of them dig winter holes for themselves right in the stacks, under the stacks of grain, and steal grain every night. Underground, like in a large apartment, the mouse has a bedroom and several storage rooms. In winter, the vole will sleep only in the most severe frosts.

But many animals do not have any storage areas. They are their own storerooms. They'll just eat a lot during the autumn months. Fat is also a food reserve. And it’s also warm: it doesn’t let the cold in. This includes the bear.

Bears store more fat for winter. He begins to get fat when the berries ripen. He still has time to gain weight before hibernation. Bears very carefully choose the location of their den and insulate it with moss and branches.

Badgers also store fat for winter. It's easiest for them to build a hole - they cope with it skillfully - and can prepare for winter in one day. Since their burrows are often large, they can “invite” their neighbor, a raccoon, to spend the winter. And the two animals spend the winter together.

The hole in which the badger hibernates is maintained in exemplary cleanliness.

Beavers prepare a lot of branches, carry them under water and put them in a pile near their home.

How does a hedgehog prepare for winter? Usually, hedgehogs look for deep holes, which are located at a distance of about one and a half meters from the surface layer of the earth. They, like bears, sleep all winter. But before going into winter hibernation, the hedgehog must eat well and become a well-fed fat man.

A skinny, scrawny hedgehog won't live to see spring. So the hedgehog runs around in the fall, trying to eat more.

The hedgehog feeds at night. What does a hedgehog eat? Worms, beetles, frogs, lizards, snails, mice, bird eggs. If a hedgehog meets a snake, it will certainly defeat it. Frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards also hibernate. Some frogs overwinter at the bottom of reservoirs and breathe through their skin.

Bats and mosquitoes also accumulate fat. In cold weather, they fall into a state of sleep, in which their body temperature drops to ambient temperature. In winter they can freeze to the point of icicles.

And in the body of ordinary black ants, tree beetles, caterpillars and other insects in the fall, a special frost-resistant substance appears - glycerin - a liquid that does not freeze even in the most severe cold.

In autumn, many animals change their summer coats for others.

This is very important to them. In winter they will be invisible in the snow.

Hares that do not stock up simply change their fur coat to a white one, so as not to be caught by the wolf and fox because of their gray clothes. This is what they say about him: “Grey in summer, white in winter.”

Foxes and wolves, which also do not hibernate in winter and are actively looking for food, they also molt - their hair is completely or partially replaced, but the color of their coat does not change.

The squirrel also does not hibernate, but throughout the fall it collects mushrooms and nuts so as not to be hungry in winter and arranges its hollow to keep it warm. Hazelnuts and cones are stacked in the pantry.

In addition, the squirrel picked mushrooms. She places them on broken pine branches and dries them for future use. In winter, the animal will wander through the branches of trees and eat dried mushrooms.

And further. A squirrel changes its summer red coat to a winter gray one.

The ermine's fur is red-brown in summer, and pure white in winter, only the tip of the tail remains black.

The capercaillie wanders along the roadsides; it needs to swallow small stones in order to grind rough food with them in winter.

If you pay attention to insects, you will definitely notice that with the onset of autumn cold weather they disappear.

By observing insects, you can find out what winter will be like. Ants, for example, build a large anthill before the onset of harsh winter. And if you see mosquitoes in the fall, then a warm winter is ahead.

Bees, for example, close the entrance more tightly with wax, leaving only small holes. And how could it be otherwise? However, if the winter is expected to be warm, the bees do not cover it at all.

Some birds fly to warmer climes and return only in the spring.

But the fate of urban birds in winter largely depends on the kindness, generosity and mercy of humans. With the arrival of cold weather, sparrows flock into noisy, numerous flocks and try to stay close to human habitation.

It is especially difficult for birds when white fluffy snow falls, covering the entire ground with an elegant blanket. It is at this difficult time that the feathered singers need our help.

Help the birds in winter, then in the summer they will dedicate their best songs to you, eat all the pests in your gardens and make sure that there are as few mosquitoes and flies as possible next season!