Hey, animal enthusiasts! It's time for
another episode of "Ask Howler." Sorry for
the delay. We went from sunny to snowy to
rainy, so we're going to do it indoors.
All right, so let's go to our first
question. (Katie, offscreen) So our first question is a
rather timely one, considering the
weather. It is from Daena and she asks: How
do animals survive in a blizzard? (Howler) That's
a very good question. Well, for those
animals that don't hibernate or migrate
there's a couple ways that they could
survive a very long winter, or at least a
very bad snowstorm. The first is, actually,
there's a layer under the snow, like a
space between the snow and the ground, and
some animals and some birds actually can
live under that space and feed on
vegetation. If that's not an option, a lot
of animals will bunker down and huddle
against each other for body heat. You can
see this with quite a few different
animals and some birds, including
Northern Harriers and Burrowing Owls.
Some animals will actually slow down. You
can see this in reptiles and some
species of frog that are native to
Alaska. They'll just stop moving, and it's not
quite a hibernation but it's close
enough. And for the frogs, they have a
type of "antifreeze" in their bodies, a
couple of different chemicals that
actually prevent them from dying when
they freeze solid. And in the spring they
fall right back out again. Ah, for me,
personally, I don't really like the snow.
I grow out an extra thick coat of fur
and that keeps me nice and warm
throughout the winter. Good question, Daena!
(Katie) And I have two little follow-ups for
that. Now, first of all, when you're
talking about the kind of natural antifreeze
that frogs have, we had something
like that about fish in, I believe,
Antarctica too, didn't we, for one of our
fun animal facts? (Howler) Yes, we did. (Katie) I believe that was
the area. (Howler) Yes. (Katie) And then, the other thing,
if I remember my earth science way back
from high school correctly, is that area
underneath the snow you're talking
about
called "permafrost," or am I completely
off-base with that? (Howler) Permafrost is the ice
under the ground. (Katie) Ah. (Howler) I believe, now don't
kill me if I get this wrong, but I
believe the term for the space between
the snow on the ground is called "subnavel,"
"subnivel?" Something like that. (Katie) It
was easily, you know, 13 to 15 years ago,
so I can't quite remember, but it kind of
just sparked my interest and memory, so I
figured I'd ask. OK, and then we'll be
going on for question 2. *Howler confers with Gracie* (Howler) Really? Oh, OK. All right. She said that the
word is "subnivium," the space between the
snow and the ground. (Katie) Ah. (Howler) Good to know. (Katie) That is a very
wise cat we have, very worldly. (Howler) Yeah. (Katie) Thanks,
Gracie. *Howler chuckles* Good girl. OK, so our next
question comes from Katie, and it is: So
with wolves, foxes, and coyotes, how does
each animal respond when it comes across
another of its species? (Howler) That's a very
good question. It's going to be a very
long answer. Ha! OK, so wolves running into
other wolves: generally speaking, they're
going to drive that other wolf away. It's
kind of just encroaching on their
territory, they don't really like that.
There are exceptions. In a wolf pack, if
one of the two breeding pairs dies, it
will usually seek out another wolf to
replace that member. Now, when the pups
grow up, they will eventually move out of
the pack and start their own. Sometimes
they find other wolves who have moved
out of their own pack, and they'll form a
breeding pair and that will start the
next pack. (Katie) So, kind of like humans? (Howler) Kind of
like humans. And it's similar with
coyotes, actually. When a coyote leaves
their pack as they grow up they become
what's called a "transient coyote" and
they'll pair up with another transient
coyote and another pack is born, because,
uh, and otherwise, generally speaking, they
don't associate with other coyotes
while they're in their pack. There is also one
other exception with wolves I forgot to
mention. Apparently, a few sources, when
I was doing my research, suggested that, in
really harsh winters, sometimes one wolf
pack will partner up with another wolf
pack to go on hunts. I've never seen it
myself, but that's what they said. With
foxes, foxes are solitary animals. They
don't normally hang out with other foxes.
Obviously, the exception being when the
young go off to form a breeding pair.
Sometimes, when a fox shares a
territory with another fox, they may form
a friendship, one fox obviously will be
of a higher standing than the other fox,
and I guess that's just the best way
they tolerate each other. *Chuckles* But that's a
good question. (Katie) Wow, they have really
intricate and complicated social
hierarchies, it seems. I'm glad we have
you and our other talking foxes and
coyote, actually, speaking of, to help us
with that kind of stuff. (Howler) Oh, yeah. Knowledge
is good! (Katie) Absolutely. All right, and our final
question is about wolves, and this
question is from Tim, and he asks: wolves
are mainly carnivores, but do they eat
any plant-based food? (Howler) Ah! Yeah, actually.
Yes! Wolves are mostly carnivores, of
course. I mean, we love caribou, moose, deer,
and a wide variety of other smaller
animals. But, believe it or not, much like
the household dog, coyotes and foxes,
we will eat plants! Now it only makes up
about five percent of our diet, but we'll
eat grasses and other small green things
and mostly berries. So I wouldn't exactly
say we're omnivorous but we're close
enough. (Katie) And is there any foods you
definitely do not eat or have to stay
away from because they're poisonous to
you? (Howler) Usually, we learn this growing up. It's
knowledge passed from pack member to pup,
but sometimes we do find out the hard
way, we accidentally eat something that
doesn't agree with us and we will get
sick. It's just, unfortunately, a part of
nature. Some things just obviously don't
smell right or they don't look right, and
we'll leave them alone, probably for good
reason. (Katie) All right, and I believe those are
the three big questions we have for this
episode of "Ask Howler," and we want to
thank you so much, Howler, for taking the
time to be with us, and you are one of
the most knowledgeable wolves that we've
ever met, and it's amazing that you're
also bilingual, at least. (Howler) Took a lot of
practice! (Katie) I'm sure! I'm sure. It's got to
be hard to get from the barking and
yipping to, you know, some of the harder
sounds in the English language, so we greatly
appreciate all the efforts you've taken
to be here. (Howler) Aw, thank you. (Katie) And we hope to see you again
soon, my friend. (Howler) Yeah! (Katie) And bye! (Howler) Bye!
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