Surviving Winter

To survive the cold winter months many animals will spend the fall building up stores of fat to live off of during periods of hibernation, dormancy or torpor (inactivity). Animals also take advantage of environmental features such as burrows, leaves, water, mud and logs to provide insulation from the cold. Browse this collection to learn more about how animal species survive during the winter. Click on the species image to go to its EOL page for more information.

Educational Activity

To learn how animals use the natural environment to survive the cold, check out the Animal Anti-freeze activity from our partners at Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS) from the Lawrence Hall of Science.