What do animals do for the winter? Wood mouse. Mink winter storage

The field mouse is a small rodent distributed throughout the world. Refers to the most numerous species of mammals - mouse classification. There are more than 100 species on earth. They adapt perfectly to any living conditions. There are no mice only high in the mountains, in areas covered with ice.

Appearance

The small animal is called differently: field vole, meadow vole, little one, striped vole. The appearance is familiar to everyone, since field mice are frequent cohabitants of people. In cold weather or with the onset of other unfavorable conditions in the natural environment, they move to barns, warehouses, sheds, outbuildings, and houses. They often live in gardens, vegetable gardens, and personal plots.

Description of the field mouse:

• The maximum body length is no more than 12 cm, the average size is 10 cm excluding the tail. The thin tail makes up 70% of the body length.
• The body is oblong, the hind feet are elongated. When running, they always come forward.
• Long muzzle, small round ears, oblong nose.

The appearance is very attractive, harmless, cute. The red nose is especially interesting. does not differ from the general proportions of most species of these rodents.

The coat is short, hard and uneven in color. The belly is always lighter, the back has a black stripe. You can distinguish a vole by the stripe on its back. Coat color varies depending on the region. The vole mouse can be gray, brown, ocher, or red. In summer it is darker, and by winter it begins to change. Below are field mice in the photo; you can clearly see the differences between the animal and other rodents.

Interesting!

The unique teeth of a vole grow throughout its life. Except for a row of small teeth on the upper jaw. On the lower jaw there is a pair of long incisors. They appear in the second month of a mouse’s life and grow by 1-2 mm every day. To prevent excessive growth of teeth, rodents are forced to constantly grind them down. They bite hard objects that are not of nutritional value, but those that surround them.

It’s not hard to guess how much a small animal weighs. The small animal gains weight no more than 30 g. On average, a field mouse weighs 20 g.

Food cravings

What the field mouse eats interests most of the population. Because pests chew on almost everything - wood, concrete structures, bricks. Some are plastic, rubber and other synthetic materials.

Lifestyle

In countries with warm climates, the meadow mouse is active all year round. In our area, with the onset of cold weather, mice do not hibernate, but the process of reproduction of the new generation slows down. They tolerate low temperatures relatively well. They can safely spend the winter on the field.

How field mice overwinter depends on the objects surrounding them and natural conditions. In the warm season, rodents live in the field, with an increase in numbers, the onset of unfavorable weather, disasters - fire, drought, flood, premature frosts, they settle in gardens and vegetable gardens. Each individual makes its home at a depth of about 1 m; in winter it goes down to 3 m. Usually the meadow mouse spends the winter in a hole.

Interesting!

The vole's abode includes a nest where pups are born and mature, several chambers with food supplies, and labyrinths of passages with obligatory access to water.

In addition to the burrow, wintering occurs in haystacks, haystacks left on the field, stacks, barns, sheds, and outbuildings. The bravest or most arrogant sneak into the house. The question of where voles live in winter can be answered ambiguously - wherever possible.

Hibernation is not typical for the field mouse. The rodent living in our area cannot hibernate. If there is not enough food, if the animal was unable to store food, it risks dying. In winter, it occasionally comes to the surface during a thaw.

On a note!

Some species of voles sleep in winter and can wake up when it gets warmer. They prefer to sleep in a hole. They begin to accumulate useful substances in the summer, a layer of fat is deposited, which disappears during the winter.

Features of behavior

Field mice are extremely active and mobile, which is due to their metabolic characteristics. The rodent eats about 6 times per day, but quickly uses up energy. Can't stand hunger, even more thirst. Without food or water, it lives no more than a week.

They adapt well to new conditions. They move along mastered lines, defined trajectories. They mark their territory with urine. Activities intensify with the onset of darkness. They are active during the day in dark rooms.

Mice are extremely cautious, which makes them shy in the eyes of humans. The slightest rustle or sound makes the rodent run for cover and hide in a hole. Enemies of mice: lizards, snakes, rats, dogs, cats, wild animals. Danger lurks at every step. The list of who eats the field mouse can go on for a long time.

The small rodent tries not to run far from the hole, moving away by 1 m. It prefers to move in the shade, under bushes, in tall grass. Each individual is assigned its territory. They live in flocks, where there is a leader - a male, and several dominant females.

On a note!

Life expectancy in the wild is 1 year, although according to genetic data they can live up to 7 years. The predators who hunt field mice every day are to blame for everything. How long they live in artificial conditions depends on the conditions of detention and proper nutrition. Average age is 3 years.

Features of reproduction

The field mouse becomes sexually mature after 3 months. A young female gives birth to from 1 to 3 cubs, an adult – up to 12 in one litter. Pregnancy lasts about 25 days.

The cubs are born blind, naked, absolutely helpless. A photo of field mice after birth is presented below. The female takes care of the young offspring for up to 1 month, then the young are expelled. They arrange their own housing and get food.

9-10 days after birth, the mouse is again ready for fertilization. Reproduces new offspring up to 4 times per year. The favorable period for this begins in May and lasts until October.

Sabotage

The field mouse can cause enormous damage to agriculture. It digs numerous holes in the fields, damages ears of wheat, and leaves mounds of earth. As a result, this makes harvesting difficult and the grain loses its marketable appearance.

Settling in barns, warehouses, and other premises where people began to store cereals, grain, flour, mice eat a third of the reserves over the winter. The product is contaminated with feces and urine. There is an unpleasant mouse smell in the room.

On a note!

The vole doesn't bite. When he sees a person, he tries to quickly hide. But, when driven into a corner, it is capable of piercing with sharp teeth. Dangerous due to the spread of viral, bacterial, fungal infections, tularemia, plague, fever, rabies.

Rodent control

An increase in the number of mice in the field threatens serious losses for agricultural workers. No less damage from rodents in the garden. To destroy pests, poisonous baits are used. They are fighting. Products with a strong odor are used indoors. Preventive measures are also important.

All of us know about the variety of such mice. We know that they harm our crops, but how many people know the types of field mice? This is what we will talk about. Field mice There are: -Grey field mouse (vole) -Red vole -Yellow vole -Ground rat -Mole vole -Housekeeper vole -Pestrushka

Lifestyle of a field mouse

Field mice They live in burrows underground, which is where they feel more confident and hide from all sorts of predators. Normally, they can overwinter and give birth to offspring. Raising kids is not an easy job, because there are threats at every step: predators, gardeners. Lifespan field mouse is 7 years, but in such a dangerous world they live barely 2 years.
Mice live not only in minks, they feel comfortable in abandoned houses (even not always abandoned ones), in greenhouses. Field mouse can be found in meadows, near interfluves, in the forest, in the field, in the garden in particular. Also, in swampy areas, they laboriously build nests that resemble a ball. Tall bushes are also suitable, here you need dexterity to hide from birds. To build a nest, they use grass and sticks - the main thing is warmth and safety.

Description of the field mouse

Harvest mouse- a small animal, no more than 14 cm in length. The body length is 7-10 cm, the rest is on the tail. muzzle mice elongated and pointed with round dark eyes. You can see a blade on the ears, but it is underdeveloped; the claws on the paws are quite long. The fur should be short, hard, with a warm undercoat that provides warmth in cold weather. Colors: brown, gray, red-red, yellow.

FOOD OF THE FIELD MOUSE

Nutrition

Field mouse eats per day, food equal in weight to one’s own is quite a lot. What do they eat? Undoubtedly nutrition depends on where you live. There are seeds in the field, and in the house you can find seeds, cheese, and bread. There is a mouse in the taiga eats berries and nuts such as cranberries and lingonberries, insects, various leaves and buds, cones. In the steppe you can eat not only insect larvae and roots from plants, but also grains, cereals and nutritious foods. But in the meadow there is expanse - berries, insects, leaves, roots and stems of plants, seeds, plant bulbs. Same in the forest harvest mouse can find all of the above, in addition to lush green leaves of trees, shoots of bushes and mushrooms. Are field mice omnivorous? They eat plant foods, but they snack and drag almost everything they come across into the nest: cheese, bread, sausage, lard and much more.

Reproduction

Field mice breeding quite a long period, starting from spring and ending in mid-autumn. During this period, they manage to bring 3-4 offspring. They carry babies for 20-25 days, and produce 5-7 mice per litter. The female may eat some of her offspring if she is unable to feed them, but there are other reasons for this, the so-called defect, where the baby is born weak and unable to take care of itself in the future.
The female feels all this and decides who to leave and who to simply kill right away. Cruel? But true.

How does a field mouse spend the winter?

The most active period field mouse occurs in spring and summer, but even in the cold season they do not hibernate. They work day and night, collecting food for themselves during the cold season; moreover, this is necessary for breeding.

VIDEO: FIELD MICE

IN THIS VIDEO, YOU WILL LEARN ALL THE MOST INTERESTING AND USEFUL ABOUT FIELD MICE

Funny, smart animals and at the same time malicious “biters” of everything and everyone. They are often unfairly confused with their closest sisters - house mice. However, residents of free fields bring no less concern and harm to agriculture and households. Animals that are loved by cats and not loved by women and farmers are part of natural diversity.

The world is big enough for all species, we just need to coexist intelligently. Let's learn more about the field mouse, its habits, possible dangers and methods of control.

Description of the field mouse

The field mouse has many varieties. Among its close relatives are:

• ordinary - the most common type;
• red - an inhabitant of the predominantly hot steppes of Asia;
• forest, preferring forest-steppe zones of the Eurasian and North American continents;
• underground - a resident of city communications and local areas.

Despite their diversity, they all belong to the genus of voles, the family of hamsters, the order of rodents and the class of mammals.

Appearance of a field mouse

All species of voles have an elongated, pointed muzzle, dark beady eyes (black or deep brown), pointed ears and a long tail, leaving about ¾ of the body length. This is a miniature rodent with a maximum length of 13 cm, more often up to 10 cm, not counting the tail. Vole weight is about 15 g. On the high cheekbones, the mice have wing-shaped plates, which makes it seem as if they have dimples on their cheeks. The paws are small, with a foot about 1.5 - 2 cm. The claws are short, dulled from constant digging.

The animal's fur on its back is brownish-ochre in color. It is not soft, but somewhat rough, short, and in older individuals it even turns into “soft needles,” like those of hedgehogs. A distinctive feature of voles is a dark stripe along the spine. The fur on the belly is light gray.

This is interesting! The intensity of the color is related to the age of the mouse. More respectable individuals are lighter than their younger counterparts; among the hairs there are even gray ones.

The male vole is practically no different in appearance from the female. In order not to confuse the field mouse with its relative the brownie, pay attention to their differences.

House mouse	Harvest mouse
Small, up to 10 cm	Slightly larger, up to 13 cm
The back is gray-black, dark	The back is brown with a stripe in the middle
The abdomen is almost white	Abdomen light gray
Short muzzle	Pointed muzzle
Ears are large and rounded	Ears are small and triangular
Tail up to 60% of body	Tail up to 70% of body

Field mice may well live in the house and in the garden, and domestic mice can live in the wild.

Lifestyle of a vole

Field mice are somewhat reminiscent of mini-moles in their lifestyle: they dig holes close to the surface of the earth and move along them. When digging, mice throw the earth away from them, so the mound turns out to be flat on one side, and the “entrance” into it is not from the top, like a mole’s, but from the side. In winter they move under snow cover.

Important! Voles do not have a period of winter suspended animation; even in cold weather they need to actively move and look for food. In this case, the mice use the supplies stored in the nest-storage rooms from the summer.

They live in burrows or suitable shelters: under branches, stacks of straw, in barns, etc. If a mouse builds a hole for itself, it makes it extensive and branched. At a depth of 5 to 35 cm there is a labyrinth from 4 to 25 m long with several storage rooms and a sleeping nest, as well as several emergency exits, one of which leads to a source of drinking water.

During the daytime, field mice prefer to hide underground and sleep, and during the day they become active. They crawl to the surface and look for food, gnawing almost everything they encounter along the way: plant roots, flower bulbs, tubers, and the bark at the bottom of trees. In search of suitable feeding, they can make real migrations.

Mice run quickly, moving with a “jumping” gait. They know how to swim, but prefer to avoid it. They often settle in colonies, often numerous: 1 or several female relatives and several generations of their offspring.

How long does a vole live?

The average lifespan of a vole mouse in the wild is 1-2 years, as they have many natural enemies and dangers. If everything goes particularly well in the life of a mouse, it can live up to 7-12 years.

Range, habitats

This rodent can be found almost all over the world, except for the hottest corners:

• on the European continent, including Finland and Denmark;
• in Siberia and the Urals;
• in North American forest-steppe zones (up to the latitudes of Guatemala);
• they are found in Asia - China, Mongolia, Taiwan;
• from the south their range is limited to Libya (North Africa) and northern India;

Despite the name, voles rarely settle directly in fields. For them, a large amount of grass is preferable, so they choose meadows, forest edges, clearings, as well as places near human habitation: cellars, greenhouses, sheds, convenient shelters in the garden and vegetable garden. Voles can even climb into a house and settle under the roof, under wall sheathing, in ventilation, or in a layer of insulation.

This is interesting! If the area is damp and swampy, a smart rodent will not build a hole, but will build a ball-nest of grass, which will be located on a high branch of a bush.

During floods, periods of prolonged rainfall, and winter thaws, the animals' burrows are filled with water, and many mice die.

Field mouse diet

The vole is a herbivorous rodent. Since she belongs to the hamster family, her teeth grow throughout her life, so her instinct is to constantly grind them down. This explains why mice are almost constantly gnawing on something. During the day, an adult vole should eat an amount of food equal to its own weight.

The mouse eats almost everything it can find from vegetation:

• herbs and their seeds;
• berries;
• nuts, including cones;
• grain;
• tubers, roots, bulbs, root vegetables;
• buds and flowers of various bushes;
• tender bark of young trees.

Winter supplies in the pantries of field mice can reach a mass of 3 kg.

Reproduction and offspring

With the onset of spring warmth and until the very autumn cold, voles actively reproduce. Pregnancy in a mouse lasts 21-23 days. During a season, a female is capable of giving up to 8 litters, more often 3-4, each of which brings 5-6 cubs. This means that if initially 5 pairs of voles settled on the site, by the end of the warm season the number of mice can reach 8-9 thousand.

Mice are born completely helpless, their eyes are blind. But their development is extremely fast:

• vision appears on days 12-14;
• after 20 days they can already survive without their mother;
• after 3 months and even earlier they are able to bear offspring themselves.

This is interesting! There are cases where female voles become pregnant on the 13th day of their life and bear viable offspring at 33 days of age.

Natural enemies

This fertility is due to the fact that in nature mice have many enemies that limit their population. The most important hunters of voles are birds of prey: owls, hawks, falcons, etc. One owl can eat more than 1000 mice in a year. For some animals - weasels, polecats - mice are the main, almost exclusive food. A ferret will catch and eat 10-12 mice per day.

The weasel is also dangerous for rodents because it has a flexible and narrow body, with which it is easy for it to penetrate nests and eat the cubs located there. A hedgehog, a snake and, of course, a cat will happily feast on a vole.

Population and species status

Voles are extremely diverse. Scientists have found that there are more than 60 species and subspecies. It is difficult to distinguish them externally; only the gene analysis method is suitable for identification.

This is interesting! The mice themselves perfectly distinguish their relatives from another population and never mate with them. How they reveal interspecific differences has not yet been clarified.

The vole genome is a scientific mystery: the genetic material is arranged without apparent logic, and most of the information is concentrated in the sex chromosomes. The number of chromosomes is from 17 to 64, and in males and females they are either the same or different, that is, there is no sex dependence. In one litter, all pups are genetic clones.

Another unique property of the field mouse population is the “self-transplantation” of genes into the nucleus from other cell organs (mitochondria). Scientists are still struggling in vain with gene transplantation in humans, while it has been working in voles for thousands of years. Scientists' only explanation is a sharp evolutionary jump in the population of field mice over the last million years.

Since mice are prolific animals, their numbers vary greatly depending on the year and season.. We noticed that growth spurts and “demographic pitfalls” in voles alternate after about 3-5 years. The maximum recorded number of animals in the population was approximately 2000 mice per 1 hectare of area, and the smallest was 100 individuals per hectare. In addition to mice, the family of rodents includes lemmings and muskrats.

Vole mouse and man

People have long considered this small, nimble animal to be their enemy. Choosing a place to live close to human dwellings, storage facilities and arable land, voles cause damage to stocks and plantings, and they are also carriers of many infectious diseases.

Thunderstorm of gardens, fields and vegetable gardens

In the years when reproduction is most active, the damage that the vole causes to plants is greatly noticeable:

• gnaws underground parts, causing the death of the plant on the root;
• spoils root crops and melons;
• sharpens grain and seed reserves;
• gnaws the bark of young bushes and trees.

Voles eat farm produce not only on the ground, but also in storage facilities, elevators, stacks and stacks, and cellars.

Important! It is not difficult to understand that a family of voles has settled on your site: the colony will be identified by the so-called “runways” - traces left on the surface from digging underground burrow paths.

Dangerous carrier

The vole mouse can be a carrier of extremely serious diseases, many of the pathogens of which can cause death in humans. Cute and funny animals, especially in large numbers, can cause:

• leptospirosis;
• tularemia;
• erysipelas infections;
• toxoplasmosis;
• salmonellosis, etc.

They became notorious due to the fact that they are practically the only natural carrier of plague in the Transcaucasian region.

How to deal with a vole

Due to the danger to agriculture, as well as to human health and life, efforts should be made to limit the number of voles. For this purpose, two directions of struggle are used:

• passive-preventive – scaring away mice from places of residence of people and agricultural objects;
• active – measures aimed at the direct destruction of rodents.

Repelling field mice

As part of repelling, it is effective to plant and lay out plants whose smell mice do not like. Among them are garlic, black root, calendula, mint, wormwood, tansy and other strong-smelling herbs and fruits. You can use essential oils rather than the plants themselves, placing pieces of cotton wool soaked in them near the intended place of mice settlement. Sometimes kerosene and ammonia are used for the same purpose. Mice avoid spilled ash.

Another humane repellent option is ultrasonic or vibration devices, which create uncomfortable conditions for mice in the action area. They can be purchased in stores. A “home” version of such a repeller is a tilted bottle dug into the ground, which will hum and vibrate in windy weather. Tin cans on poles around the perimeter of the site and even “wind music” (ringing sticks or bells) hanging on the trees will act in a similar way. A colony of mice is unlikely to settle on a property or in a house that is “patrolled” by the mouse’s natural enemy – the cat.

Destruction of voles

“In war” all means are good. When crops and plantings are threatened with irreparable harm, extreme measures may be justified. The Arsenal of folk and industrial methods offers the following options for means of fighting voles for life and death:

• "Gypsum thrombus" - mix salted wheat flour with lime or gypsum. A rodent that eats such bait will die from a blood clot in the stomach.
• Poisonous baits - In specialized stores you can buy ready-made poisons for rodents in the form of wax tablets or granules. When laying them out, you cannot take them with your bare hands, otherwise smart mice will not touch them. Some types of poisons have a delayed effect, and poisoned rodents have time to infect their fellows.

Important! This method should not be used if a cat or dog can eat dead mice - this can be fatal to the life of the pet.

• Physical destroyers- all kinds of mousetraps. Not effective if the mouse population is large.
• Traps - farmers come up with various options, from a jar placed on a coin, which the mouse drops when it gets under it, to a bottle with a small amount of sunflower oil dug into the ground. Ready-made traps are also sold. Another option is a board with a special glue applied to it, to which the mouse will stick securely.

According to the latest data, it is not traditional cheese that is more attractive as bait for voles, but nuts, chocolate, a piece of meat, and bread with sunflower oil. Another unpleasant point associated with all punitive methods is that you will have to regularly clean up and dispose of dead mice.

Why you can’t completely destroy voles

Like any species on our planet, voles occupy their place in an ecological niche. By eating grass seeds, they limit the growth of the grass cover, which prevents young trees from breaking through to the light, thereby preserving forests. In addition, their role in the food chain is very important for the population of birds of prey and many fur-bearing animals. In those years when few mice are born, the number of foxes, owls and other animals that feed on voles decreases. Some species of voles are rare and endangered and are protected:

• Evronian;
• Muyskaya;
• Balukhistan;
• Mexican;
• Japanese red;
• Taiwanese;
• Central Kashmir.

Prevention measures

To reduce the likelihood of voles settling on your property, you can:

• get a cat or dog;
• do not drive away the natural enemies of mice, especially owls;
• do not allow the area to be cluttered with equipment, firewood, faulty furniture, etc.;
• constantly loosen the ground, destroying the “grooves” of field mice;
• promptly dispose of trimmed branches, leaves, weeds and other garden debris.

To combat voles, it is necessary to use an integrated approach that combines prevention, creating an environment that is uncomfortable for rodents, and physical destruction.

Mink winter storage

Mink, a small animal of the mustelid family, also stores for the winter. But since it is a predator, its larder is not as harmless as that of a squirrel. This fur-bearing animal stores live food - frogs. Minks bite their prey in the area of ​​nerve accumulation on the head, and the frogs remain immobilized. The mink stores the frogs in a shallow place at the bottom of the river. These animals also store the carcasses of small rodents, birds and fish, often stealing prey from fishermen’s nets.

A mink is capable of storing several kilograms of fish.

Live canned moles

These small insectivores, despite their size, are quite voracious. At one time, a mole can eat an amount of food approximately equal to its own weight. Therefore, winter supplies are a necessary condition for the survival of moles. These animals make a kind of live canned food from their favorite food - earthworms. Moles, like minks, bite their prey in the head area, cutting through the motor nerve. Fixed but still living worms are taken to an underground chamber, where they are stored throughout the hungry winter.

Diet during hibernation in chipmunks

Chipmunks would be the envy of women who are always losing weight, because the ban on eating before bed is not about these animals. Despite the fact that this animal hibernates, it still stores several buckets of seeds and nuts. Chipmunks' storerooms are located right in their nest - after waking up in winter, the animals have a light snack and go back to sleep. In addition, reserves help chipmunks feed in early spring, when the animals wake up and there is no food yet. However, chipmunk nests are often attacked by bears. These predators simply adore pine nuts, which are stored by economic chipmunks. A bear can work all day to dig a deep hole, but will not stop at the opportunity to eat deliciously. And the little animals can only watch as their hard-collected supplies perish.

Winter is a difficult period in the life of the entire animal world. Everyone prepares for winter differently. Animals take care of food and shelter in advance.

They prepare especially diligently for winter - they stock up on supplies, mice and voles.

Many of them dig winter holes for themselves right in the stacks, under the stacks of grain, and steal grain every night. Underground, like in a large apartment, the mouse has a bedroom and several storage rooms. In winter, the vole will sleep only in the most severe frosts.

But many animals do not have any storage areas. They are their own storerooms. They'll just eat a lot during the autumn months. Fat is also a food reserve. And it’s also warm: it doesn’t let the cold in. This includes the bear.

Bears store more fat for winter. He begins to get fat when the berries ripen. He still has time to gain weight before hibernation. Bears very carefully choose the location of their den and insulate it with moss and branches.

Badgers also store fat for winter. It's easiest for them to build a hole - they cope with it skillfully - and can prepare for winter in one day. Since their burrows are often large, they can “invite” their neighbor, a raccoon, to spend the winter. And the two animals spend the winter together.

The hole in which the badger hibernates is maintained in exemplary cleanliness.

Beavers prepare a lot of branches, carry them under water and put them in a pile near their home.

How does a hedgehog prepare for winter? Usually, hedgehogs look for deep holes, which are located at a distance of about one and a half meters from the surface layer of the earth. They, like bears, sleep all winter. But before going into winter hibernation, the hedgehog must eat well and become a well-fed fat man.

A skinny, scrawny hedgehog won't live to see spring. So the hedgehog runs around in the fall, trying to eat more.

The hedgehog feeds at night. What does a hedgehog eat? Worms, beetles, frogs, lizards, snails, mice, bird eggs. If a hedgehog meets a snake, it will certainly defeat it. Frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards also hibernate. Some frogs overwinter at the bottom of reservoirs and breathe through their skin.

Bats and mosquitoes also accumulate fat. In cold weather, they fall into a state of sleep, in which their body temperature drops to ambient temperature. In winter they can freeze to the point of icicles.

And in the body of ordinary black ants, tree beetles, caterpillars and other insects in the fall, a special frost-resistant substance appears - glycerin - a liquid that does not freeze even in the most severe cold.

In autumn, many animals change their summer coats for others.

This is very important to them. In winter they will be invisible in the snow.

Hares that do not stock up simply change their fur coat to a white one, so as not to be caught by the wolf and fox because of their gray clothes. This is what they say about him: “Grey in summer, white in winter.”

Foxes and wolves, which also do not hibernate in winter and are actively looking for food, they also molt - their hair is completely or partially replaced, but the color of their coat does not change.

The squirrel also does not hibernate, but throughout the fall it collects mushrooms and nuts so as not to be hungry in winter and arranges its hollow to keep it warm. Hazelnuts and cones are stacked in the pantry.

In addition, the squirrel picked mushrooms. She places them on broken pine branches and dries them for future use. In winter, the animal will wander through the branches of trees and eat dried mushrooms.

And further. A squirrel changes its summer red coat to a winter gray one.

The ermine's fur is red-brown in summer, and pure white in winter, only the tip of the tail remains black.

The capercaillie wanders along the roadsides; it needs to swallow small stones in order to grind rough food with them in winter.

If you pay attention to insects, you will definitely notice that with the onset of autumn cold weather they disappear.

By observing insects, you can find out what winter will be like. Ants, for example, build a large anthill before the onset of harsh winter. And if you see mosquitoes in the fall, then a warm winter is ahead.

Bees, for example, close the entrance more tightly with wax, leaving only small holes. And how could it be otherwise? However, if the winter is expected to be warm, the bees do not cover it at all.

Some birds fly to warmer climes and return only in the spring.

But the fate of urban birds in winter largely depends on the kindness, generosity and mercy of humans. With the arrival of cold weather, sparrows flock into noisy, numerous flocks and try to stay close to human habitation.

It is especially difficult for birds when white fluffy snow falls, covering the entire ground with an elegant blanket. It is at this difficult time that the feathered singers need our help.

Help the birds in winter, then in the summer they will dedicate their best songs to you, eat all the pests in your gardens and make sure that there are as few mosquitoes and flies as possible next season!