What animals store supplies for the winter? Hedgehog hibernation.
Tell me, has anyone seen a live hedgehog? This is such a small attractive animal, it stomps very loudly and snorts funny. But by autumn the hedgehogs disappear.
Where do the hedgehogs disappear to? You can guess they go into hibernation. Unlike many animals, hedgehogs do not store food for themselves for the winter. Consequently, when the warmth ends and cold weather sets in, all insects disappear and hedgehogs go to sleep. Due to the heat, they build up the fat pad under the skin and on internal organs, since they will need a lot of calories for the winter. Cold is not main reason, according to which hedgehogs go into hibernation. The more important thing is that in winter there is no food for them, and per day hedgehogs must absorb huge amount food. It must be said that before hibernation the animal becomes elegantly shaped like a pear. This shape shows that the hedgehog has accumulated a sufficient supply of fat.
Before going into hibernation, hedgehogs look for a shelter and improve it. If the place for hibernation is chosen incorrectly, the hedgehog will die. When autumn comes, hedgehogs dig a hole in the ground at a depth of up to one and a half meters. Preparing a place for wintering, this cute animal drags a lot of dried leaves into the shelter. The layer of these leaves can sometimes be about half a meter.
If the hedgehog has accumulated sufficient quantity fat, it can go into hibernation as early as November. And less well-fed hedgehogs They will look for food until the last minute. Males go to bed first.
When the first cold weather sets in, hedgehogs hurry to their burrows. Having climbed there, they close the passage with leaves prepared in advance. At first, the hedgehog hibernates lightly, so a loud sound can interrupt his sleep. At such moments it is very easy to find the location of the hole, loud grunting and heavy stomping is difficult not to catch. Hedgehogs often die for this reason and become food for foxes and wild dogs.
After the final drop in temperature, the hedgehog falls into a very sound sleep, and it is no longer possible to wake him up. So hedgehogs can sleep for up to 8 months. When strong thaws occur, hedgehogs sometimes wake up, go out of their holes into the street, and if possible, they will eat.
Hedgehogs wake up with the first rays of sun. During this period, hedgehogs may stay up for days looking for food, because they need a lot of energy. A little later they will begin to look for a mate.
So we found out how hedgehogs spend the winter in nature!
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How animals prepare for winter. Part 2.
How animals prepare for winter. Part 2:squirrel, badger, beavers, fox, wolf, mouse. Speech exercises and finger theater about how animals prepare for winter.
How animals prepare for winter: part 2
Stories in pictures on the topic “How animals prepare for winter”
Today we continue the topic of how animals prepare for winter. we discussed with you:
- Experiments for children“Why is a hare gray in summer and white in winter?”, “Which fur coat is warmer?”
- How hare getting ready for winter?
- How bear getting ready for winter?
- How hedgehog getting ready for winter?
- Presentation for looking at pictures of children.
- Poems, stories, assignments for children.
- How squirrel getting ready for winter?
- How beaver getting ready for winter?
- How badger getting ready for winter?
- How mouse getting ready for winter?
- How fox and wolf getting ready for winter?
- 4 speech exercises for children.
- Games are dramatizations.
- How to make it quickly and easily finger theater for performances forest conversations and dialogues?
- Poems, pictures, stories for children about animals
Wish have an interesting trip into the world of animals and new discoveries!
Squirrel
Almost all children know how a squirrel prepares food for the winter, because all cartoons show how it hangs mushrooms on tree branches and dries them on stumps. She also collects nuts, acorns, and cones. Where does the squirrel hide them? Under stumps, under tree roots, in hollows, in moss.
Squirrels also prepare their homes for winter. A squirrel's house is called a "hollow". But if there is no hollow, then the squirrel builds a nest for itself. This is a ball of twigs and pieces of bark with one entrance. The squirrel puts moss and bird feathers inside the nest to make it warmer. She plugs the cracks with moss and grass. The squirrel builds its nest very high in the tree so that no one can climb into it.
The squirrel's winter coat is silvery, similar to snow. And in the summer - red. You already read how to conduct a simple and interesting experiment for kids, showing the child why a squirrel changes its red coat to a silver one in the first part of our conversation about autumn. Did your child enjoy guessing?
Belkina drying room. V. Bianchi
The squirrel took one of its round nests in the trees for a storage room. She has hazelnuts and cones stacked there.
In addition, the squirrel collected mushrooms - boletus and birch mushrooms. She planted them on broken pine branches and dried them for future use. In winter, it will wander through the branches and feed on dried mushrooms.
G. Skrebitsky
Here you go late autumn through the forest among bare, leafless trees. Look, something is darkening on the branches of one of them; It looks like dried leaves.
No, these are not leaves, but dried mushrooms.
Who brought them up the tree? This is the job of a busy squirrel. At the end of summer and autumn, she collects mushrooms - prepares her food for the winter.
During the fall, the mushrooms on the branches will wither and dry out, and they will remain hanging there until one day. winter days the squirrel will not find them and will not eat them.
In addition to mushrooms, the squirrel prepares other food for the winter. She stuffs nuts and acorns into hollows and wood cracks. All this will be useful to her during the winter lack of food.
By winter, squirrels not only store food: they take care of insulating their homes. With the onset of autumn, the busy animals plug the cracks in their nests with withered grass and moss. Every hole is plugged. Well, now everything is ready, we can welcome winter.
Squirrels, chipmunks, hamsters and many other animals store food for winter.
Beaver
Beavers.A. L. Barto
I've been walking since the morning,
I ask everyone:
- What kind of fur does a beaver have?
What kind of fur, tell me?
Is it true that beavers
Erecting mound fortresses
And do they hide beavers there?
And what they say is true,
Why do they have carpets there?
From fragrant herbs and bark?
I asked my mother about the beaver,
But it's time for her to go to work.
I see a janitor in the distance
He sweeps the yard.
Could you tell me:
Where does the beaver live? -
And the janitor told me: - Don’t stand in the dust,
Let's put the conversation aside.
Without looking up from the game,
Playing dominoes
The neighbor laughs: - Where are the beavers?!
I haven't seen them for a long time.
Tell me, would you be so kind as to
Tell me, where do beavers live?
Task for children: Do you know where beavers live? How would you answer this boy's questions?
The beaver is an amazing animal! He is even called the “King of Rodents”! The beaver has a spatula tail, sharp teeth. A beaver can even chew through a tree with its teeth! Beavers can swim, and they have a special coat - it doesn’t get wet in the water! Beavers take care of their coat and groom it carefully. They scratch it with their front paws, teeth and claws of their hind paws. But other beavers help them comb their backs, because they can’t reach their backs themselves! Just like you, your mom probably helps you rub your back with a washcloth when you wash!
The beaver's house is called a "hut". Beavers build a house from branches and twigs. The beaver's house is very strong, because all the branches are held together with clay and silt. You can only enter the hut underwater.
Beavers live in families. In the fall they have a lot to do - they need to prepare the dam for winter, repair it, prepare a lot of branches and stack them near their house - “hut”. This is their “food” for the winter. They store “food” underwater near their home. And they will need a lot of food in winter! After all, beavers do not sleep in winter, and they need to eat! In winter, beavers swim underwater and eat roots. aquatic plants and their autumn food preparations - stored branches.
Badger
Under a birch tree on the mountain... Timofey Belozerov
Under a birch tree on the mountain
A badger sleeps in its hole.
And the badger's hole
Deep, deep.
The badger is warm and dry,
Caress your ear all day long
The noise of birch branches
Yes, the sniffling of children:
They sleep soundly on the bedding
Boys with mustaches
And they sniffle from satiety
Wet noses...
A branch or twig creaks -
The badger will open his eye slightly.
He will guide you with a sensitive ear,
He smiles and falls asleep:
After all, the badger has a hole
Deep...
The badger is also preparing his home for winter. The badger's home is a hole. In the fall, the badger repairs the house, brings dry grass, moss, leaves and prepares a warm and soft bed for the winter. Just as we have a mattress and pillow on our bed to make it soft and comfortable to sleep, so the badger wants to make his bed soft and comfortable.
The badger also stores food for the winter, dries it and hides it in a hole. It stores acorns, seeds, and plant roots.
By winter, the badger falls asleep in its hole.
Badgers. I. Sokolov-Mikitov
Once upon a time there were a lot of badgers in our Russian forests. They usually settled in remote places, near swamps, rivers, and streams. For their burrows, badgers chose high, dry, sandy places that were not flooded. spring waters. Badgers dug deep holes. Above their holes grew tall trees. There were several exits and entrances from the holes. Badgers are very neat and smart animals. In winter, they, like hedgehogs and bears, hibernate and emerge from their holes only in the spring.
I remember when I was a child, my father took me to see residential badger holes. In the evening we hid behind tree trunks, and we were able to see how old short-legged badgers went out to hunt, how small badgers played and romped near their holes.
In the forest in the mornings, I had to meet badgers more than once. I watched how a badger carefully made its way near the tree trunks, sniffing the ground, looking for insects, mice, lizards, worms and other meat and plant food. Badgers are not afraid poisonous snakes, catch them and eat them. Badgers do not go far from the hole. They graze and hunt near their underground dwellings, not relying on their short legs. The badger walks quietly on the ground, and it is not always possible to hear his steps.
The badger is a harmless and very useful animal. Unfortunately, there are almost no badgers in our forests now. It is rare that inhabited badger holes remain in the deep forest. The badger is a smart forest animal. He doesn't harm anyone. It is difficult for a badger to get used to captivity, and in zoos during the day badgers usually sleep in their dark kennels.
It is very interesting, having found holes, to follow the life of their inhabitants.
I have never hunted the peace-loving badgers, but sometimes I have found their forest homes. It was rare to see live badgers. You used to go with capercaillie current, the sun rises over the forest. You stop to sit down on a tree stump and listen and look carefully. You will see a badger carefully making its way near the tree trunks and sniffing every inch of the ground. A badger's paws look like small, strong shovels. In case of danger, a badger can quickly bury itself in the ground. When badgers dig their holes, they scoop out the earth with their front legs and push it out with their back legs. They dig holes quickly, like machines.
If you find live badger holes in the forest, do not touch them, do not destroy them, or kill useful and good-natured animals. The badger has become a very rare animal in our forests. It is not difficult to completely destroy this beast.
Mouse
The mouse prepared its pantry for the winter and filled it with grain. Sometimes mice make their own pantry right in the field and carry grains into it every night. The mouse hole has several entrances, and it contains a "bedroom" and several "storage rooms". In winter, the mouse sleeps only in cold weather, and on other days she needs to eat, that’s why she stores so much food! Here's how Vitaly Bianchi writes about it:
Getting ready for winter. V. Bianchi.
The frost is not great, but it doesn’t tell you to yawn: when it hits, it immediately freezes the earth and water with ice. Where will you get food for yourself then? Where will you hide?
In the forest, everyone prepares for winter in their own way.
Those who are supposed to fly away from hunger and cold on wings. Those who remained are in a hurry to fill their pantries, preparing food supplies for future use. Short-tailed field mice carry it around especially diligently. Many of them have dug winter holes for themselves right in the stacks and under the stacks of grain and steal grain every night.
Five or six paths lead to the hole, each path leading to its own entrance. Underground there is a bedroom and several storage rooms.
In winter, voles go to sleep only during the most severe frosts. That's why they stock up on large amounts of bread. In some holes, four to five kilograms of selected grain have already been collected.
Small rodents rob grain fields. We must protect the harvest from them.
Fox and wolf
By the fall the fox has already raised her cubs, so she does not sit in the hole. But if danger threatens, the fox runs to its house and hides. The fox has a hole at the edge of the forest on a hill so that the fox can see the forest from all sides. The fox is very smart, she never runs straight to the hole, first she makes a loop to confuse her tracks, and then hides in the hole.
The fox is a predator; it does not sleep in winter and does not store for the winter, just like the wolf.
But both the fox and the wolf are preparing their coats for winter. Their fur, like that of all animals, grows and becomes very warm and fluffy so that it is not cold in winter.
Speech exercises on the topic “How do animals prepare for winter?” Playing with words
Game “Where is whose house?” Guess how to continue
- Lives in a den...
- Can live in a hole...
- Lives in a hut...
- Lives in a hollow...
- Lives under a bush...
If the baby makes a mistake, then you can play a game called “Help the kids find a house.” The little animals got lost and lost their homes. Where are their mothers waiting for them? Where should I take the baby squirrel? Where's the bunny? Where is mama bear waiting for her baby? Where is daddy beaver waiting for the baby beaver? Where should the little badger go? Where's the hedgehog? In the game, the baby will quickly remember who lives where. You can use toys or pictures to play.
"Continue the sentence"
- IN winter forest you will never meet...
- In the winter forest you can find...
- In the fall they change their fur coats...
- In autumn the hedgehog...
“Name the animals affectionately.”
- Squirrel - squirrel,
- fox - ... (chanterelle),
- bear - (bear, bear),
- hare - ... (bunny, bunny, bunny),
- hedgehog - ... (hedgehog).
Game “Let's build a bridge. The longest sentence about autumn"
Take the chips. Any small objects can act as chips: pencils, cones, buttons, shells, pebbles, blocks of building material or designer parts. You can cut out squares from thick colored cardboard. One chip is one word. You lay out one chip and say one word. For example, "hedgehog". The child lays out the second chip and says the second word, adding it to the first: “Runs.” "The hedgehog is running." You place the third chip and say the third word. You can name two words if a preposition is used: “Through the forest. A hedgehog is running through the forest." But every word is one trick! Ask the child: “What word is this? This is the word "by". And this word is “forest”. Together we did it: through the forest.” Next, the child adds his word. For example, "Autumn". The result is the following sentence: “A hedgehog is running through the autumn forest” and you have 5 chips laid out. Continue to expand this offer as much as you can. For example, your final result might look like this: “A spiky, cheerful hedgehog runs through the golden autumn forest and carries dry leaves on its back.” The rule is that one word is used only once in a sentence, so that it doesn’t turn out to be “butter oil” :)
I usually use a game version of this exercise. The children and I “build a bridge” from one bank of the river to the other using our chips.
- On old wallpaper we draw two banks across which we need to build a bridge. You can draw “shores” with chalk on the linoleum or lay out strings.
- We discuss why this bridge is needed. For example, a kid got lost, he needs to go home, but he cannot swim across the river. If we build a bridge of words, he will cross it. But we need a long bridge, so we need a lot of words!
- We build a bridge from words, that is, we make a sentence. And at the same time we get acquainted with the term “offer”, learn to select beautiful figurative expressions and build complex sentences in your speech!
- When the bridge is ready, our hero runs happily across it to his mother.
- It is possible to build sentences - bridges with any words and in any game situation: the car needs to drive to the other side, Aibolit needs to go to the sick bear, etc. You can build not a bridge, but a road.
Dialogues are dramatizations on the topic “How animals prepare for winter.” Forest conversation
How to conduct a dialogue between animals in the autumn forest - dramatization with a child
The animals gathered in a forest clearing and began to tell each other about their affairs. “I will spend the winter in a hollow,” said the squirrel. - “And for the winter I stored food for myself - dried mushrooms, collected nuts and acorns.”
“And I will sleep in the den,” the bear said in a deep voice. “Now I need to eat a lot of food so that I can sleep peacefully all winter.” In winter I don't need food. I prepared a den for myself. I will sleep in it in winter.”
Act out this conversation with your child and continue it on behalf of different animals. You can introduce other characters - birds and insects. Let the birds tell you how they are going to fly away to distant lands, and the insects tell you how they hide in cracks and under the bark from the cold and frost. Each character talks about himself, about his autumn affairs, about how he prepared for winter.
For dialogues, you can use toys - a bunny, a fox, a bear, a mouse, a squirrel. You can cut out silhouettes of animals or use pictures. By playing animal dialogue, the child consolidates acquired knowledge about the natural world in an interesting and exciting way. And what is also important is that the child learns to apply the acquired knowledge in life! This is much better and more effective than “tormenting” a child with questions: “How did the hare prepare for winter? Remember, how did the badger prepare for winter? Remember..." The child will remember, and after a few days... he will forget! But he will never forget the information that the child used in the game! After all, he lived and felt it, it was interesting and emotional, it was so bright and exciting! Play and develop your baby in the game! And success will be guaranteed!
Children love to act out such animal dialogues using finger theater. You don’t have to buy or sew or knit a finger theater. You can quickly make it from scrap materials available in every home.
How easy it is to make a finger theater on the topic “How animals prepare for winter”
- Draw the animals yourself or print out ready-made pictures and stick each one onto a thin strip of thick cardboard. The width of the strip is approximately 1cm. Length 7-8 cm. You can color the pictures, or you can leave them as they are – black and white. Coloring pictures with colored pencils is very useful for a child. It develops fine motor skills, so you can involve your baby in this matter. After all, prepare toys for your future game always interesting for a child!
- Take a strip of cardboard 3-4 cm wide and about 8-10 cm long. Glue it into a “ring” onto the child’s finger using tape. The exact size of the part depends on the size of the child’s finger - the “ring” should be put on and taken off freely, but should not fall off the finger.
- Insert the finished strip of cardboard with an image of an animal glued to it inside the “ring” and put it on your finger. You can change characters by inserting them into the “ring” and taking them out. It turns out to be a finger theater.
- In this finger theater, one child can either play the role of one animal or play several roles. Each animal talks about how it prepared for winter.
- To conduct a dialogue-game, the baby will need your help. Take on one of the roles, ask questions, suggest new stories and topics for discussion!
Plots for the game - dramatizations with children on the topic
"How animals prepare for winter"
As a basis for such dramatization by children of the dialogue between animals, you can take a folk song.
Shadow-shadow-shadow,
There is a fence above the city,
The animals sat on the fence,
We boasted all day.
For older children 5-7 years old, you can take Nikolai Sladkov’s story as a basis for dramatizing the dialogue of animals. Let the raven ask the animals questions, and they answer him. At first, the mother can take on the role of a raven and ask the animals questions about how they are preparing for winter. Then switch roles. Each time, change the composition of the animals answering Raven's question.
A fairy tale for children about autumn by Nikolai Sladkov
- Forest dwellers! - the wise Raven shouted one morning. — Autumn is at the threshold of the forest, is everyone ready for its arrival?
Like an echo, voices came from the forest:
- Ready, ready, ready...
- But we’ll check it now! - Raven croaked. - First of all, autumn will let the cold into the forest - what will you do?
The animals responded:
- We, squirrels, hares, foxes, will change into winter coats!
- We, badgers, raccoons, will hide in warm holes!
- We, hedgehogs, bats Let's fall into a deep sleep!
The birds responded:
- We, the migratory ones, will fly away to warmer lands!
- We, sedentary people, will put on down padded jackets!
“Secondly,” the Raven shouts, “autumn will begin to rip off the leaves from the trees!”
- Let him rip it off! - the birds responded. - The berries will be more visible!
- Let him rip it off! - the animals responded. - It will be quieter in the forest!
“The third thing,” Raven continues, “autumn will click the last insects with frost!”
The birds responded:
- And we, blackbirds, will fall on the mountain ash!
- And we, woodpeckers, will begin to peel the cones!
- And we, goldfinches, will get to the weeds!
The animals responded:
- And we will sleep more peacefully without mosquito flies!
“The fourth thing,” the Raven buzzes, “autumn will become boring!” He will catch up with dark clouds, let down tedious rains, and incite dreary winds. The day will be shortened, the sun will be hidden in your bosom!
- Let him pester himself! - the birds and animals responded in unison. - You won’t keep us bored! What do we care about rain and wind when we are wearing fur coats and down jackets! Let's be well-fed - we won't get bored!
The wise Raven wanted to ask something else, but he waved his wing and took off.
He flies, and beneath him is a forest, multi-colored, motley - autumn.
Autumn has already crossed the threshold. But it didn’t scare anyone at all.
You can also use for dramatization a fairy tale about how animals prepare for winter by G. A. Skrebitsky “Everyone in his own way” (riddles, tasks for children, folk traditions, video)
In the summer we go to the dacha, and different things happen there interesting meetings with animals that we don’t notice when living in the city. Most frequent guest, to whom we are usually happy, but whom we do not know how to invite - an ordinary hedgehog. Seeing this small animal, which, upon our approach, curls up into a prickly ball and puffs displeasedly, we are delighted and decide to immediately “save” the hedgehog, that is, take it from its usual habitat and place it in conditions that are completely unsuitable for it.
We draw our ideas about hedgehogs from children's fairy tales and cartoons, so we are absolutely sure that hedgehogs eat apples and mushrooms, string them on needles, take them to the house and store them for the winter. This idea of hedgehogs is completely wrong. Therefore, we invite you to get to know the amazing stranger living next to us.
The hedgehog is a representative of the INSECTIVORE order, that is, its food is insects and their larvae, worms, chicks and eggs of birds nesting on the ground, small mammals and even snakes. Therefore, if it happens that you take a hedgehog into your house (we will talk about such cases later), then you will have to feed it with this food, and not milk, which will cause the hedgehog to have diarrhea and may die.
Hedgehogs do not store food for the winter because they sleep in winter. Moreover, during hibernation, metabolic processes slow down so much that if we find such a hedgehog, we will mistake it for dead. The heart beats only 20 times per minute, breathing movements occur once every 2 - 3 minutes, body temperature drops to 1.8 ° C.
In the spring, when the air warms up to 15 degrees C, hedgehogs come out of hibernation. Over the winter, they have used up the fat reserves accumulated in the summer, so they immediately rush in search of food. At this time of year, hedgehogs are active around the clock and can be seen even during the day.
Soon the hedgehogs begin mating season. Pregnancy lasts 49 days. To give birth to cubs, the female makes a nest in a hole or in the grass. Hedgehogs are born blind and naked, only after a few hours do they develop soft spines.
Hedgehog milk contains 25 g of fat per 100 g of product and has very high acidity. There are no artificial analogues of hedgehog milk. If you get small hedgehogs and you decide to try to feed them, be prepared for the fact that most likely the hedgehogs will die. It is incredibly difficult to feed young insectivores, and the mortality rate among such babies is very high.
Cow's milk is not suitable for hedgehogs, as they do not have the enzymes to digest this product. It is better to use cat or dog milk substitutes. At about a month of age, you need to give meat food: low-fat minced meat, and then meat cut into pieces. Gradually add insects, snails, and eggs to the diet.
While the hedgehogs are small, use absorbent diapers as bedding to prevent the babies from getting wet.
If you still manage to feed the hedgehogs, you cannot release them into the wild. You haven’t taught them how to dig a hole, search for and kill prey, or defend themselves from predators. Your pets don’t know anything that their mother hedgehog could teach them. So if you feed a hedgehog, you will have to keep it forever.
If in the fall you come across a very small and weak hedgehog - weighing up to 1 kg - you can take it home for short time(no more than a week) in order to fatten him up properly - otherwise it will be difficult for him to survive the winter. Just keep in mind: since hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, you won’t see him during the day, he will sleep in a secluded place, but at night the hedgehog will not let you sleep. Despite their small size, these animals stomp loudly and generally make a lot of noise. But then release him to freedom in the same place where he was found.
Well, if you like hedgehogs so much that you just want to “invite” them to your summer cottage plot, then know: hedgehogs are nocturnal animals; during the day they hide in shelters. Such a shelter can serve as a small box, a pile of brushwood, bushes, holes, etc. Arrange secluded corners on your site where the hedgehog could feel safe and, most likely, he will settle on your site. As a treat, if you want to treat your hedgehog, you can use dog or cat food. Place it in a bowl next to the shelter and wait for guests.
There is one more thing to remember to avoid harming your prickly friends: if you have a dog or cat, this neighborhood can be dangerous. Some dogs catch and eat hedgehogs; cats can harm hedgehogs.
If you want to watch a hedgehog, do not catch it and do not bring it into your house. Let the hedgehog live freely, catch beetles and slugs that can harm your garden, and in the evenings you can carefully watch him. If you regularly feed your hedgehog something tasty and don’t frighten it, it will gradually get used to your presence and behave calmly and naturally. And while watching it, you will probably discover a lot of interesting things for yourself - something that you had not thought about before.
Common European hedgehog ( erinaceus europaeus) is a mammal. Hedgehogs live not only in our country, but also in Kazakhstan, China and larger territory Europe. When winter comes, hedgehogs hibernate, but before that they make sure to prepare so that wintering is comfortable.
Preparing hedgehogs for hibernation
There are no accidents in nature, everything is subject to the laws of interconnection, the strongest survive and those prepared to survive in extreme conditions. It’s interesting to watch how a hedgehog prepares for winter when autumn comes and you need to think about the coming winter.
Hedgehogs begin to prepare for winter in early autumn. They look for a deep hole, at least one and a half meters deep, otherwise in cold winter With severe frosts, hedgehogs may simply freeze and not survive. They insulate it with dry leaves and moss, seal the hole and hibernate. The period of hibernation begins for hedgehogs with the onset of the first winter frosts in October. In the summer active time A hedgehog's heart rate is 180 beats per minute, but when the hedgehog sleeps in winter, the heart rate drops to 20-50 beats and only one breath is taken per minute. Body temperature drops to 2 degrees Celsius above zero.
The hedgehog is an omnivore. Its diet includes insects, caterpillars, slugs, earthworms. Hedgehogs eat eggs with pleasure small birds, eat berries and fallen fruits. An indispensable condition for the survival of hedgehogs is the accumulation of fat over the summer, due to which the animal lives in winter. This is how a hedgehog prepares for winter, thoroughly and seriously!
Awakening from hibernation
Hedgehogs wake up with the onset of spring, when the night air temperature is positive and there is no frost. A hedgehog loses up to half its weight during hibernation. As hedgehogs awaken in the spring, they quickly adapt to their normal lifestyle.
Like many people, animals make provisions for the winter. For forest animals that have never known human care, this is instinct. Without it, they could not reproduce and survive.
Winter reserves of mammals
When indicating which animals make provisions for the winter, the brown bear should be mentioned first. Although this one has a fairly large layer subcutaneous fat, however, it must be reinforced both before and after long hibernation. It is worth noting that the bear is an omnivore, so it often eats berries, bulbs, and larvae. Having found rodent prey in a tree, brown bear willingly “kidnaps” her. In some cases, the rodent itself can suffer from the paws of a clubfoot.
A hedgehog's winter supplies are different from those that children are used to seeing in pictures. The main products for this animal in cold weather are:
- mushrooms;
- fruit particles;
- insects.
It should be pointed out that the question of whether the hedgehog stores for the winter is still controversial. Some zoologists claim that these mammals are long time hibernate. Observations from others make it clear that hedgehogs are capable of waking up during winter and feeding.
In the hiding places of stoats and weasels you can find more than a dozen rodents small sizes. Also, under the ice crust, several dozen black frogs remain for the winter.
Predators such as wolverine, martens and forest cats- under stones, fallen leaves and trees. But leopards prefer storage areas on tree branches.
Watch a video about how animals prepare for winter.
Winter reserves for rodents
When remembering who makes winter supplies from animals, it is simply impossible not to mention rodents. These types independently build (dig, gnaw out) their storerooms. The list of the most active animals in this regard must include protein. Red furries on winter period save for yourself: hazelnuts, sometimes acorns, mushrooms and seeds. Such rodents give preference to boletus. In the taiga they collect about 150-300 mushrooms for the winter, but in Western Siberia- up to 2000 mushrooms. The peculiarity of these representatives of rodents is that they have very bad memory. The squirrel may forget where its reserves for the winter are located, and therefore sprouted hazel sprouts can often be seen in the hollows of trees.
Moles make meat preparations underground. They tear off the heads of earthworms and place them in this form in their burrows. There are more than a thousand worms per mole. During the winter period, this animal is able to eat as much as it weighs.
Chipmunks stock up on seeds and pine nuts for the winter. In order to live successfully cold season, they will need several buckets of this delicacy. Chipmunks try very carefully to hide their reserves and can even dig a hole all day long to do this. True, they often remain deceived: bears can find their food. Chipmunks hibernate, but wake up to increase their strength.
The rodent haymaker turns out to be very hardworking. These are found in Altai and behave very interestingly in the fall. Carefully, straw by straw, they stack piles of hay. Interestingly, it is not scattered in any way, but neatly folded into piles. To prepare such a nutritional reserve, the animal first collects the best grass stems and dries them in the sun.
Up to 15 kg of seeds and tubers are stored for the winter by small animals that are found in Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia, - field housekeeper. In other areas where winter is not so severe, this animal does not save food “for later”.
Terrible from a human point of view are such animal reserves for the winter as:
- dried frogs - forest ferrets readily feast on them in cold weather;
- dead fish - a mink can store more than 20-30 kg of such food under the ice.
In order to feed themselves, one family of beavers must prepare more than 50 cubic meters of twigs in advance. People call yellow-throated mice no less hardworking. It is impossible to say exactly how much the mouse stores for the winter. There are cases when this small animal collected more than 47 kilograms of seeds for itself.
What insects and birds store for the winter?
Birds and insects must work even harder in order not to die in winter, because in long sleep they don't fall in. In autumn, jays scurry around the tall lonely oak trees all day long. These birds collect acorns, place them in the sublingual pouch (nature intended for just such an activity) and carry them away from animals. This bird buries its reserves. True, such a bird is not limited to one hiding place. She creates more than 2,500 pantries per season. The jay is often called the forester, because thanks to its efforts, hazel shoots appear in the spring.
A predator bird that makes winter reserves is called the Siberian shrike. This bird's assortment includes mice, small frogs and insects.
In the spring, bees also begin to prepare for the cold season. As soon as the sun warms up and the first flowers bloom, these insects in a swarm get to work: collecting nectar and preparing honey. Bees have a good sense of smell and a very well developed instinct to prepare supplies. As evidence of this, we can cite the following fact: only the collected nectar consists of approximately 40-60% water, and in order to make honey, insects must reduce this percentage to 20. One healthy family bees can produce up to 150-250 kilograms of honey per season. Bees put fully prepared honey in a special place - a honeycomb, and to prevent the sweet, rich drink from leaking out, it is covered with a thin wax film - another beekeeping product.
Also, riders worry more about their young than about themselves. This small-sized insect independently digs a hole in the ground where it places its larvae. A caring mother also places found beetles, spiders, caterpillars, and larvae of other insects there. The riders paralyze their victims with a poisonous needle.
Do you think it is possible to draw an analogy between animals and people preparing for winter? Leave your opinion at