The Challenge of Change: Learning from the Animals

Change is in the air. The temperature has dropped, children grab their school supplies and hurry out the door in the morning, and most people have established routines that work for them. People deal with difficulties in different ways. During the weeks and then months of quarantine, some people baked bread, others did puzzles, and many finally stopped putting off organizing their closets. (Some individuals were happy to discover bread recipes among their papers and puzzles they had forgotten having bought buried in the bottom of their closets. Organizing does have its rewards.) To the animals, the cooler temperature signals that their lives need some serious adjustments as well. When the canopy of leaves changes from green to gold, the animals, birds, and insects know it’s almost time: Winter is coming, and they have to be prepared to survive.

Squirreling Away Food

Without closets to go through, animals are nevertheless extremely busy with their final preparations for the approaching winter months. Some, such as squirrels, are confident that the caches of food they carefully prepared over the summer will be enough to see them safely through the freezing winter when food is scarce. For months, they have been collecting food and storing it where it will be accessible. Research has uncovered that the squirrels don’t just bury their nuts randomly; rather, they practice “scatter hoarding,” burying their food in hundreds of different locations. They have even been known to dig holes, leave them empty, and then cover them back up to fool other squirrels who might be watching.

Not only that, but they group the nuts according to preference and choose to bury the most valuable ones in the most open areas. In this way, other squirrels are discouraged from helping themselves to food that doesn’t belong to them since, in the open, they are more vulnerable to predators and won’t risk the free meal. Of course, the squirrel who buried them there is also in danger while burying and recovering them but considers the risk a worthwhile investment for its hard work. If you think of your neighborhood as a huge, underground closet for a squirrel, perhaps they have been spending these months organizing after all.

Bee-ing Warm

Similar to squirrels, honey bees are active all winter (unlike most bees and wasps, which die off except for their hibernating queens), relying on food that they stored before the season changed. They have an additional challenge, though: being cold-blooded, they can’t simply grow a thicker coat of fur to keep out the cold. Instead, they burrow deep within their hives and cluster together for warmth. Honey bees are able to maintain the internal temperature of their hive at over 90 degrees by vibrating their muscles and forming a tight cluster around their queen. In this way, they pass the coldest months content, eating the honey they stored until the spring sun shines again.

Oh, Deer  

Some animals, such as deer, don’t do anything in particular to prepare for winter’s icy grip as their food supply of twigs, stems, and other plants is still available in the colder months. The do grow a thicker coat, which absorbs more sunlight and traps more heat than their summer coat. They do purposely overeat in the summer in order to add layers of insulating fat under their skin. They also produce oils from glands in their skin that make their hair water repellent, which helps them stay warm and survive outdoors in the snow and freezing rain.

Female deer, called “does,” often travel in groups during the winter, foraging for food together. Their fawns stay with them through the winter, as well. To find enough food, they are able to jump over seven-foot tall fences from a standing position, so it is not so easy to keep them out of your yard. They adjust to harsh winters by slowing their metabolism, sometimes by half, which enables them to save energy and eat less. They also use the energy that they stored in their body as fat when food was plentiful.

What’s Good for the Geese?

Some creatures, such as the Canada goose, turn their noses (or rather, their beaks) up at the whole thing and just leave. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of feet above our heads, the Canada geese deny that such a thing as snow even exists and simply head south. Flying swiftly, they remain loyal to their distinctive “V” formation, traveling together in groups at an average speed of 50 miles per hour. As the air temperature drops in the autumn, the Canada geese begin their annual journey, called a migration, which may cover 2,000 to 3,000 miles. They sometimes fly as many as 1,500 miles in a single day when the winds are right!

With their familiar brown body, black neck, and white chinstrap, over 300,000 of these easily identifiable birds make their home in Maryland. Although Canada geese inhabit almost every one of America's 50 states, they have become comfortable residents in Maryland, which features their ideal habitat of lakes, rivers, ponds, yards, parks, and fields.

It is important to note that there are some Canadian Canada geese and some American Canada geese. If that is not confusing enough, many Canada geese that live in Maryland have never even been to Canada as they do not migrate at all but are year-round residents. Happy to live in our ponds and marshes all winter, they are well insulated so that the drop in temperature does not disturb them. Under their layer of long, elegant flight feathers is a layer of soft feathers called “down.” These “down” feathers create pockets of warm air around the bird's body which help it maintain its internal body temperature despite the cold.

The northern Canada geese commit themselves to a lengthy migration because the arrival of snow effectively eliminates access to their food supply. Canada geese are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. In their case, a delicious meal consists of grass, grains, and water plants with occasional insects and even small fish. Once the ponds freeze over and the fields are buried under snow, the Canada geese would starve if they didn’t have the “foresight” to move to their summer homes. (This is clearly not a problem for our Canada geese since it doesn’t snow in Baltimore.)

Why the “V” formation? It’s about aerodynamics. The goose in the lead provides flight assistance to the birds that follow. As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an updraft of air that reduces the air resistance behind it. The lead goose does the most work, trailblazing a path through the air. Scientists have estimated that Canada geese flying in a “V” formation can fly 70 percent farther than those flying alone. They also periodically rotate their positions. Flying in the front uses the most energy as the lead bird feels the full force of the oncoming air. As such, the birds take turns being in the lead, retiring farther back in the group when they get tired, when another bird takes the lead in its place.

Another benefit to flying in the “V” formation is that each bird can easily see all the other members in the group, called a “skein” in flight. (The group is called a “gaggle” while on the ground.) If one bird becomes weak or sick, two more birds will leave the formation and follow it to the ground. They will help and protect the weak goose until it has sufficiently regained its strength. Only then will they rejoin their group together.           

Perhaps the next time you hear the clear “honking” of the Canada geese, you will lift your eyes to follow their journey. Their magnificent “V” formation serves as a constant reminder of the benefits of cooperation and camaraderie. Though not baking bread or doing puzzles, each creature has its own way of dealing with the difficulties of the season. Many find comfort and strength in forming groups and working together. “Planning ahead” – though no doubt instinctual rather than rational – clearly improves their chances of survival significantly.

With a little foresight and planning, working together and helping one another will help us all weather the winter cold, creating our own warmth and comfort during these changing times.

Debbie Glazer lives in Pikesville with her husband and seven children and teaches Language Arts in Bnos Yisroel High School. She can often be found either writing or reading and loves to share her passion for the written word with others.