Squabbling males or reluctant females may cause a stir that will include some spraying. Have you noticed a telltale odor of skunk this winter? If you have, get ready for the blast of reality when skunk-breeding season rolls around in January! Male skunks may travel over two miles a night in search of that den full of vivacious babes. Skunks, especially females, prefer to make their winter dens under or in buildings. Skunks enjoy mixed company of other skunks, as well there can be 20 or more in a den, but usually no more than 10. Often, it will be the mother and her young from the summer who will den together, but sometimes as many as 12 to 20 raccoons may den together. Just like us humans! To conserve energy, both raccoons and skunks congregate in communal dens. There is no dramatic reduction in their body temperatures, heart rate or respiration. Unlike the true hibernators, these animals may sleep only during the coldest temperatures and the deepest snows, but remain active periodically throughout the year. They are able to nurse the cubs and care for them during the coldest of months by relying on body fat stored from the previous fall.Īre the last of the winter sleepers. Yet, adult female bears give birth to two or three cubs in January about every other year. Unlike chipmunks, bears do not eat or drink or even relieve themselves during the 5-6 months of denning. Respiration drops more significantly, from about 40 to 8-10 breaths a minute. Their body temperature drops only about 10 degrees, from 100 degrees F to 90. Their winter sleep is not as deep as that of the true hibernators, as bears remain alert and can run away or defend themselves if disturbed. Bears usually build a den on top of the ground or under a blow-down or brush pile. During falls with an abundance of nuts, especially beechnuts or acorns, bears often will stay active into December. Autumns with a lack of nuts and other foods, as we experienced in New Hampshire in 2003, can send some bears into their dens as early as September. May double their weight in late fall in preparation for denning. Sometimes they snooze only during the coldest, snowiest parts of the winter. Rounding out the seven sleepers, bears, raccoons and striped skunks sleep during the cold months, but not as deeply as the true hibernators. Imagine if you could hit the snooze button for four more months! Not only do these animals get to sleep as long as the average teenager, they actually have a weight loss program that works - the winter sleepers lose between 25 and 50 percent of their weight while sleeping. Yet, somehow, an alarm clock built into their bodies awakens them at just the right time. For these animals, life nearly ceases they are at death's door. Bats, woodchucks, chipmunks and jumping mice go into a deep sleep, or hibernation. Seven types of mammals dodge the depths of New Hampshire's winter by snoozing it away. I'm so relaxed, that my heartbeat slows down 95 percent (!), from 105 beats per minute to just 4. I'll let my body temperature cool from 104 degrees F to maybe 38 degrees. No trips to the gym for me, but still I'll wake up next March or April about half the weight I was when I waddled into my winter sleep chamber. I've chosen a nice grove of oaks to build my winter burrow in, not far from the cool summer burrow where I raised my three little ones (lest a hungry coyote nab me in my fat waddly search for my new home). Wouldn't you like to sleep in on these snowy winter mornings, like I do? In fact, I'll sleep five months if I must, to avoid this wicked winter. Down, down into my winter burrow you will find me soundly asleep in my winter woodchuck world.
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