We've got snorkeling gators, butt-breathing turtles, deep sleepers and cedar-eating beavers
Through a long stretch of severe cold 'Life find a way'
The weather forecasters say 24 hours from now the mercury will climb north of 32 degrees for the first time since February 7 for most of the state. It will be a happy Friday indeed.
So how did you manage through this record shattering cold spell? Did you remain active but cautious, burrow in, go into torpor, hibernate or go full on dormant?
Those are the options wildlife had at their disposal, with the exception of brumation, which is like hibernation but relating to reptiles and amphibians and I thought it would be a little weird to ask that of my readers—with my apologies to any who might identify as a snake or toad.
It’ s not often that Oklahoma wildlife have to survive for nearly two weeks at below-freezing temps—with a few dips into the sub-zero range. But it’s important to note that most of our critters have northern cousins who regularly manage this kind of weather for weeks or months at a time. That DNA is in there.
Let’s talk deer and quail first because those seem to be the subjects of most of the forecasts of doom on social media the past week. Word from our state biologists is it might not be so bad as you might think.
The deer are in good shape according Dallas Barber, big game biologist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
“We had really good habitat over the summer and fall and that allowed them to beef up and put on some weight before the winter,” he said.
The animals are incredibly resilient and while they might not have a coat as heavy as their Michigan cousins they still have warm fur and with good habitat for bedding, they can withstand extreme cold, he said.
Some will likely perish, but it will be the relative few that went into the cold spell in a vulnerable state—the injured or sick or old, the fawns born very late or the bucks that rutted hard and repeatedly and just depleted all their energy, he said.
Fat stores are key, but if they need to deer will eat just about anything if they have to (including bark off saplings) and Oklahoma has no shortage of crops deer can access with a little digging or food their human friends literally spread on the ground on a daily basis.
Last week when I spoke with Wildlife Department Quail Coordinator Tell Judkins we talked about freezing rain and quail. He was fairly optimistic for the survival of birds that had good habitat. That outlook hasn’t changed even with the length of time. Cold and snow aren’t as bad as ice, he said.
“We definitely got a little bit of a break when the sun came out and it melted some of that ice,” he said. “The big concern is that ice, and most of it went away.”
Judkins is interested in any reports from people in the field, however. Send email to him at tell.judkins@odwc.ok.gov.
The brumators of Oklahoma include all the snakes and toads and lizards and other ecotoherms (cold-blooded critters). Brumation is more like true hibernation when you think of something like a turtle under an ice-locked pond or creek that is buried in the mud. Most of its systems nearly shut down and it likely is “breathing” through its butt. I let you Google “cloacal respiration” and see if you can get a giggle out of any kid in your house. (hint: it’s vascular oxygen intake where blood vessels are close to the surface of the skin)
But brumation can be a less intense state of torpor for other reptiles—like alligators and some snakes.
Wildlife biologist David Arbour got a little national media attention this week when he posted photos on Facebook of young alligators at Red Slough Wildlife Management Area with their snouts protruding from the ice—a cool reptile adaptation called “icing” or “snorkeling.”
The gators also are brumating under the ice, but their level of sleep seems more similar to rattlesnakes that retreat to deep crevices and caves but might venture out for some sun when the mercury shoots up to 60 degrees. When the ice retreats the gators likely will go back about their business—albeit slowly.
The only truly dormant critters during an Oklahoma winter are insects that survive as eggs or dormant larvae and northern long-eared bats and brown bats in hibernation. We can hope this cold hit the tick and mosquito population hard, but the ice and snow cover might have saved a lot of them. From a lot of years reporting on those little suckers I’ve learned that as long as they’re wet they do fairly well.
The bats are in a dormant state with slowed metabolism that is as much a reaction to this season of little food (flying insects) as it is the deep cold. They live deep in caves where the temperature is relatively consistent; cool in summer and warm in winter.
Oklahoma’s black bears likely are in a serious torpor for now, said Wildlife Department furbearer biologist Jerrod Davis.
Torpor differs from true hibernation in physiological ways, but in layman’s terms it means bears will come back out of sheltered spots on warm days to get some sun and find some browse. During very mild winters they might not rest much at all, he said. A true hibernator would sleep right through a warm day here or there with a truly slowed metabolism and lower body temperature.
“This week the bears probably are in the deepest darkest caves they can find,” he said.
Another Oklahoma mammal that disappears when the ponds and lakes ice over is the beaver. While their northern cousins amass great caches of food under the ice and in their dens before winter and spend months out of sight, Oklahoma beavers probably are sheltering with what food they have in and near their den and are just waiting for the ice to melt, he said.
The beavers in the slough behind my house are doing just that. They broke a hole through thin ice last week for what appeared to be a last snack before the big freeze. They also snacked on an eastern redcedar, something I’d never seen before.
Yes, a redcedar.
“It’s not something I’ve seen before,” Davis said. “From what I’ve read it’s something they will do, but it’s kind of like their version of having to eat whole-grain bread.”
I asked if maybe the beaver knew the cold was coming and hit that juniper tree to make a beaver’s version of gin to help get the family through the cold spell.
I was just joking, of course, but I’m thinking more than one Oklahoman has turned to a gin or moonshine of late.
“I’ve got nothing to follow that up with,” Davis said with a chuckle.
You never know. Like the fictional Dr. Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.”
