How Do Animals and Plants Survive Winter? A Full Breakdown of Overwintering Methods

As cold winter approaches, animals and plants may freeze to death if they are not careful in winter, so how do animals and plants survive winter? Let's take a look below.

1. How do animals survive winter?

1. Hibernation: for example, snakes, frogs, turtles, and so on. In winter they hide in their own burrows and sleep soundly. They do not wake up until spring. During such a long time, they eat nothing and drink nothing, and they do not move; they rely on slowly consuming the fat in their bodies to get through the cold winter. Black bears also sleep, but they wake up at the slightest noise, and when hungry they come out to look for something to eat. This is called false hibernation or semi-hibernation.

2. Migration to a different place to live: such as wild geese, swallows, and so on. Before winter arrives, they fly to the warm south to spend the winter. On the one hand this is because it is warm there, and on the other hand it is because they can find food there; both are beneficial to their survival.

3. Thickening the fur or feathers on their bodies: such as rabbits, deer, foxes, sparrows, crows, and so on. In winter, the fur or feathers on their bodies are much thicker than in summer. As for what they eat, they do not need to worry either; that is, in summer and autumn they eat as much as possible and become plump, and in winter they eat whenever they can find food, and if they cannot find anything to eat, they are not afraid of going hungry for a few days.

4. Storing food: such as squirrels, bees, ants, and so on. In autumn they store a large amount of food in their homes, so in winter they do not need to go out.

5. Letting eggs survive the winter: such as praying mantises, locusts, and so on. In autumn they lay eggs and let the eggs spend the winter on branches, in grass, and in the soil. The outer form of these eggs is protected by a special egg case, so they are not afraid of the cold. When spring comes, their larvae crawl out and happily play everywhere.

2. How do plants survive winter?

In winter, plants enter a dormant state and survive the winter by means such as dropping all their leaves and regulating moisture.

1. The way pines and cypresses survive winter looks quite advanced. Their leaf structure is rather unique. To resist the cold of winter, they mainly achieve this by avoiding water loss. The epidermal cell walls of the plant's leaves are very thick. When the weather turns cold, the cells of the lower epidermis close, while root activity decreases, lowering the water content in the plant.

2. Some plants have their own tricks for preserving heat. Most annual plants store the energy in their bodies inside seeds, and the seeds continue to reproduce and multiply after being dispersed. As for perennial plants, before winter arrives they concentrate and store nutrients in their root systems, building up strength for growth in the coming year.

3. In addition, there are some plants that store these essential nutrients neither in seeds nor in roots, but instead reduce free water to resist severe cold, such as winter wheat, rapeseed, and so on. Their bodies store a large amount of nutrients.