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Just how do animals and plants adapt to deal with the cold winters in the mountains? It appears that each has developed it's own unique strategy for not only surviving, but thriving despite the deep snows and cold temperatures found in the Rockies.

Perhaps the most obvious winter adaptation is found in birds like geese-- avoidance. They simply get the heck out, and head south to warmer climes. Unfortunately not all animals have the option of leaving, and so they must develop different survival strategies. Interestingly enough, for some their survival strategy is to die. Certain insects and plants die in the autumn but leave behind eggs or seeds that will overwinter and start a new generation the following spring.

For those animals that need to survive winter, their adaptations begin to become more temperature related. Ground squirrels have evolved to survive by hibernating. This deep level of dormancy has allowed them to survive a period during which there would be little available food for them to forage. Bears also sleep away the winter (although it isn't true hibernation) surviving on the stores of fat built up during the summer and fall.

For the unlucky ones that need to stay active all winter long, they will either retreat to the miniature world beneath the snow, or they will tough out the elements above the surface. The small habitat located between the surface of the ground and the base of the snow layer is known as the subnivean environment. This tiny world is alive with small animals like mice which will forage along an extensive series of tunnels. Pikas, another distinctive mountain animal, stay active all winter as well by eating large stores of plants collected during the summer, as well as doing a little foraging within subnivean tunnels. The over the snow travelers also have different ways of combating the cold. Moose for instance are able to lower their body temperature by several degrees. This will in turn, lower their base metabolism making it easier for them to stay warm. It also reduces the amount of food they must eat to survive (a handy adaptation when food is scarce). Other adaptations include large feet, like those of the snowshoe hare, to make travel easier, or even the ability to go into temporary states of dormancy during the worst weather.

These strategies are just that--strategies. They are neither perfect nor universally successful. In certain cases the conditions can be so bad that entire populations are wiped out. During the winter of 1899, all of the caribou along the coast of Greenland mysteriously disappeared. To this day no-one knows exactly what happened as no trace of the caribou was ever found. Freezing rains may have made it impossible for them to find food, and they may have wandered out onto the ice pack and perished. Regardless of the cause, it remains a good example of how even the best strategy for survival doesn't guarantee an individual will be around next spring. The winter is an important culling period for many species. It weeds out the weak and old and ensures a strong population come the spring.