Hobbies And Interests
Physical Adaptations
Many animals that remain in the taiga throughout the year have developed physical adaptations that help them survive. Survival in the taiga winter means keeping warm, which most permanent resident animals do with long, thick fur. Winter survival also requires finding food and avoiding predators. Some taiga animals, such as the snowshoe hare and the ermine, change color in the winter to blend in with the snowy environment. These animals change from brown or grey to white in the winter to allow for better camouflage. Animals such as the Canada lynx and the snowshoe hare also have wide feet that allow them to travel easily across the snow to either catch prey or escape a predator.
Migration
Many species of songbirds and water fowl breed in the taiga in the spring and summer and then migrate south before the winter. Migration is a behavioral adaptation that allows animals to benefit from the taiga's wetlands and their abundant plants and insects without the risks of the harsh winters. In some areas in the taiga, moose move locally from one season to another to stay in more sheltered areas in the winter.
Winter Sleep
Some animals survive taiga winters by sleeping through them. Hibernation includes both the behavioral adaptation of denning and sleeping through winters and physical adaptations, such as reduced metabolic rates, that make it possible for the animal to go for months with little or no food or water. Grizzly and black bears store fat throughout the fall and enter a state of torpor through the winter. Bears do not actually hibernate in an uninterrupted sleep state for the entire winter, but rather have periods of sleep and wakefulness, according to the Denali Education Center. However, bears' metabolic processes are slowed down in the winter. Other taiga hibernators include ground squirrels, badgers and chipmunks. Cold-blooded animals, such as some fish and amphibians go dormant through the winter. The wood frog can survive up to 65% of its body freezing solid, and can survive multiple freeze-thaw cycles through the winter. It then thaws to life in the spring.
Food Storage and Burrowing
Several smaller mammals cache food and spend winters in dens or burrows. Burrowing and storing food is a behavioral adaptation that helps ensure winter survival. Squirrels are well-known food storing animals. Moles and shrews burrow tunnels in the ground to serve as shelters from the cold and from predators. Others, such as muskrats, build dens where they spend much of the winter, venturing out to forage for food.