Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb here with a classic
Speaker 2: episode from our archives. But with the weather turning colder
Speaker 2: here in the Northern Hemisphere, I was thinking about all
Speaker 2: of the cold blooded critters out there that depend on
Speaker 2: sunlight and warm temperatures to keep their bodies going. Here
Speaker 2: are some of the ways that they survive the winter.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbomb, and you and I
Speaker 1: can complain about seasonal chills all we want, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we're basically walking furnaces. Humans
Speaker 1: are endotherms, meaning that our bodies produce heat internally. We're
Speaker 1: also able to maintain a body temperature that stays more
Speaker 1: or less constant, so we should count our blessings. Not
Speaker 1: all animals have these physiological advantages. Apart from a handful
Speaker 1: of species like the monstrously big leather back sea turtle,
Speaker 1: very few reptiles or amphibians are able to keep their
Speaker 1: bodies at a constant temperature, and since they can't warm
Speaker 1: themselves up, these creatures must extract heat from their environment.
Speaker 1: But what happens when that environment gets colder? Out of
Speaker 1: frogs snakes and turtles make it through the winter months
Speaker 1: in places that see blankets of snow, ice over lakes,
Speaker 1: and sub freezing temperatures year after year. A lot of
Speaker 1: reptiles and amphibians undergo periods of extreme seasonal inactivity. When
Speaker 1: the weather gets colder. They may experience decreased heart rates,
Speaker 1: slowed metabolisms, and lower overall body temperatures. Scientists disagree over
Speaker 1: what to call this state. Everyone accepts that it's some
Speaker 1: kind of dormancy, but while some experts classify it as hibernation,
Speaker 1: others refer to it as brumation. Dormant snakes generally hold
Speaker 1: themselves up in winter dens. These shelters may take the
Speaker 1: form of an abandoned rodent burrow, an exposed crevice on
Speaker 1: a rock face, or some naturally occurring hole underneath a tree.
Speaker 1: Various snakes have also been known to turn household basements
Speaker 1: or garages into winter lodges in seasonally cold areas like
Speaker 1: Canada and the northern United States. Snakes must choose their
Speaker 1: dens with care. Ideally, a winter hangout spot will descend
Speaker 1: below the local frost line, the maximum depth beneath the
Speaker 1: ground at which soil freezes. Hiding out underground is the
Speaker 1: survival strategy of choice for lots of tortoises and turtles
Speaker 1: as well. Some species, such as the gopher tortoise, dig
Speaker 1: their own burrows, but it's not uncommon to find to
Speaker 1: the shelled reptiles occupying pre dug unoccupied rodent holes. Now
Speaker 1: a hibernating black bear can sleep for more than one
Speaker 1: hundred days straight without consuming any food or water. Reptiles
Speaker 1: tend to be more active during hibernation or breamation. When
Speaker 1: a midwinter warm spell comes along, they'll use it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to crawl up to the surface, bask in
Speaker 1: the sunlight for a little while, and maybe grab a
Speaker 1: quick drink. Reptiles are perceived as loners, a reputation that
Speaker 1: isn't entirely deserved. Consider the Eastern diamondback rattler, who doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to mind collaborating with gopher tortoises. Members of both
Speaker 1: species will sometimes go dormant together inside the same burrow. Likewise,
Speaker 1: snakes often share their dens with other snakes. Garter snakes
Speaker 1: are famous for hibernating in huge groups that may consist
Speaker 1: of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. One Canadian den
Speaker 1: reportedly contained no fewer than eight thousand snakes. Indiana Jones
Speaker 1: and other videophiles will want to keep their distance as
Speaker 1: snakes go. Garters are remarkably cold tolerant. One species can
Speaker 1: even survive the unbelievable experience of having forty percent of
Speaker 1: the liquid water inside its body freeze solid, but only
Speaker 1: if it's allowed to thaw out after a few hours.
Speaker 1: But the wood frog takes freeze tolerance to a whole
Speaker 1: new level. A North American native, this cold weather warrior
Speaker 1: has the distinction of being the only amphibian in the
Speaker 1: Western hemisphere whose range extends into the Arctic Circle. Every autumn,
Speaker 1: wood frogs bury themselves under a thin blanket of leaf
Speaker 1: litter on the forest floor. There they will remain dormant
Speaker 1: for up to eight months. In the process, the heart
Speaker 1: temporarily stops beating and the frogs enter a state of
Speaker 1: suspended animation. Left to the mercy of the elements. The
Speaker 1: amphibians freeze at temperate and polar latitudes. Fortunately, the liver
Speaker 1: pumps loads of glucose into the bloodstream, while urine is
Speaker 1: retained than the body. All that helps keep the cells
Speaker 1: from drying out, which is what would normally happen during
Speaker 1: the freezing process. Therefore, a full sixty five percent of
Speaker 1: all the water in a wood frog's body can become
Speaker 1: frozen and the amphibian will still live to rib it
Speaker 1: another day. Moreover, the frog may be kept frozen at
Speaker 1: negative eighteen degrees celsius or about zero degrees fahrenheit, for
Speaker 1: as long as two hundred and eighteen days. Another example
Speaker 1: of this cool survival strategy can be found in far
Speaker 1: North Russia. The Siberian salamander lives in areas that get
Speaker 1: temperatures of negative fifty degrees celsius that's negative fifty eight
Speaker 1: fahrenheit or lower. To stay alive, it hibernates underneath logs, vegetation,
Speaker 1: and snowbanks. A compound in their bloodstream keeps the critters
Speaker 1: alive when the majority of its body water turns to ice.
Speaker 1: Terrestrial amphibians with poor digging skills, like the wood frog,
Speaker 1: tend to either hibernate in pre existing burrows or fine
Speaker 1: shelter at ground level. Good burrowers, such as the American
Speaker 1: toad and spotted salamander, proactive dig winter holes from themselves
Speaker 1: that extend below the frost line. For aquatically inclined amphibians,
Speaker 1: there's another option. Bullfrogs are lake and pond denizens who
Speaker 1: find oxygen rich bodies of water and spend their winters
Speaker 1: imprisoned under the surface of ice that forms there. Painted
Speaker 1: turtles employ a similar strategy. Reptiles generally use their lungs
Speaker 1: to breathe, but some semi aquatic turtles can also absorb
Speaker 1: water born oxygen through their skin overwintering. Painted turtles do
Speaker 1: this extremely well, Plus they can lower their metabolic rates
Speaker 1: to the tune of ninety five to ninety nine percent
Speaker 1: each winter. That's how they stay alive beneath thick sheets
Speaker 1: of lake ice for months on end. Sometimes you can
Speaker 1: even see them swimming around under the frozen barriers. But
Speaker 1: why go through the hassle of skin breathing when you
Speaker 1: can turn your snout into a snarkel. In January of
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the Internet was greatly amused by some North
Speaker 1: Carolina alligators whose noses were seen poking up out of
Speaker 1: a frozen pond. Gators can't survive being trapped in icy
Speaker 1: water for much longer than a week or so. For
Speaker 1: long term winter lodgings, they construct deep burrows out of
Speaker 1: waterside mud. Today's episode is based on the article Weird
Speaker 1: Ways Reptiles and Amphibians Survived the Winter on HowStuffWorks dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini.
Speaker 2: A brain Stuff is production of ihart Radio in partnership
Speaker 2: with how stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.
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