![]() ![]() One of the things squirrels are most famous for is burying nuts. So how exactly do squirrels get through the winter? Laying Down Supplies For small mammals like squirrels, this is even more of a challenge. As the air temperature drops, mammals must use more and more energy just to keep warm. Food, though not absent, is scarce and can be more difficult to find in inclement weather conditions. So How Do Our Squirrels Get Through the Winter?Īlthough red and grey squirrels in the UK don’t face starvation during the winter, it’s still a tough time. So British squirrels have no real danger of starving to death during an average winter, so no need to hibernate. ![]() In fact, nuts, seeds and berries are a primary food source for many of our native birds over the winter. Although these foods might be harder to find in the winter, they certainly don’t disappear altogether. They eat plant matter with a big focus on nuts, seeds, and berries. Squirrels, on the other hand, are herbivores. Their primary diet is insects, and as we know, there are very few insects around in the winter. Going back to hedgehogs as our example, they are insectivores. They don’t just have to climb trees they fly – which is even more energy-intensive.Īnother theory that seems more credible is that creatures who hibernate do so in expectation of famine. Squirrels do actually put on a fair bit of weight in the autumn: reds up to 12% of their body weight and greys up to a hefty 25%.Īnd bats and even some species of birds hibernate. This is an interesting idea, but it doesn’t stand up to examination. Running through the trees is a highly energy-intensive activity, and if the squirrel did manage to put on the necessary weight, would it then be too fat to move through the branches? Scientists speculate that arboreal creatures like tree squirrels just wouldn’t be able to put on the required amount of weight. So a hog needs to be pretty fat before it can safely hibernate for the winter. A hedgehog, for example, can lose up to a third fo its body weight during hibernation. But with the squirrel, there are a couple of pointers we can consider.įirst of all, an animal that plans to hibernate needs to put a lot of weight before bedding down for the winter. No one really knows why some animals are adapted to hibernate through the winter, and others aren’t. Why Don’t Red and Grey Squirrels Hibernate? However, they are out and about much less during the winter months. The squirrels we have here in the UK, red and grey squirrels, are both tree squirrels. ![]() Ground squirrels do hibernate, but tree squirrels don’t. The short answer is that it depends on what sort of squirrel you’re talking about. Hibernation can be a dangerous strategy, and many animals die each winter whilst hibernating. But even so, a creature that intends to hibernate must build up huge fat reserves to see them through the winter. This is pretty handy during the winter months when there may be little or no food to be had. The result is that a hibernating creature can survive for several months on the energy reserves, which would last just days whilst active. So, for example, a hibernating hedgehog’s temperature drops to less than 10c, its heart will beat only a few times a minute, and it can get by on taking just a few breaths each hour. Several UK mammals hibernate – hedgehogs most famously, but also bats and dormice.ĭuring hibernation, an animal’s metabolism slows down so that it uses only a tiny fraction of the energy it would whilst active. Hibernation is a pretty amazing strategy to allow animals to survive though adverse conditions, typically the winter. But in the animal kingdom, there’s a lot more to it than that. We humans may think of hibernation as just curling up in the warm and getting your head down during the cold weather. ![]()
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