Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival

Fascinating stuff, answered many of my observation-driven questions about winter survival (I loathe cold weather, so I'm with the bears). One persistent detraction for me was Heinrich's seeming ease in killing various animals for personal research, in the name of "pure science" (i.e., study without the need for practical applicability). Not my bag, neither the killing nor the notion that science is additive without addressing earthly needs - can't say that approach has made much impact beyond the disappointing and frequently ridiculous grind of academe. Still, valuable and even useful (ironically) information herein.

Do bees defecate in their hives if it's too cold to make the necessary dash outside? Why don't hibernating black bear lose bone mass and develop sores like a bed-ridden human? How does the 5 gram golden-crowned kinglet (about the size of a large humming bird) survive a northern winter? I suppose the intelligent design folks can explain all of these mysteries without even strapping on their snow shoes, so let us be doubly grateful for naturalists like Bernd Heinrich who learn and test and publish the exact mechanisms for survival in the stark northern winter. There is so much wonder to be had from the truth. Heinrich is interested in learning how such disparate survival traits such as hibernation and migration actually evolved, and he takes his reader on his journeys of discovery. One of the questions that he answers in "Winter World" concerns the migration of the monarch butterfly. Do the same monarchs who journeyed up to 4500 kilometers to "twelve extraordinarily small patches of pines and firs" in Mexico, survive to return to their summer haunts in the eastern United States? Due to an interesting bit of biochemical sleuthing that the author shares with us, we learn that it requires up to four generations of monarchs to make the long journey back to their northernmost breeding grounds. For that matter, why do monarchs migrate to those small overwintering sites in the Transvolcanic Mountains of Michoacan? Why do these particular butterflies bother to migrate at all? It is amazing how many winter survival traits involve shivering, and the small temperature range in which animals such as monarchs and bats can shiver and survive. Monarchs migrate to a small area that has exactly the right winter temperature range, and as the author says, "it is a sobering thought that most of the [monarch] population of eastern North America could be wiped out by an irresponsible woodcutter with a chain saw." According to E. O. Wilson, "Heinrich is a scientist and naturalist of the first rank." He is also a writer who can lead his reader further and further into the winter woods, following a trail of fascinating detail and discovery. One of the mysteries that lured the author and his ecology students into the woods is the presence of the elusive golden-crowned kinglet. Why doesn't this particular bird migrate? Monarchs migrate. Robins migrate. So why not kinglets? Gradually, through the course of many winters, Heinrich and his students discover how these little birds survive. One of the last of the delicate line drawings in this book enlightens us on how kinglets endure the harsh nighttime temperatures of a Maine winter: it shows two of these birds fluffed out and huddled together in a miniature snow cave on a spruce branch--an accidental discovery made by one of Heinrich's students. This is truly a book of marvels.

Have you ever had your leg in a cast? And when the cast comes off your leg is small and wrinkled because of the muscle atrophy that took place during the weeks of inactivity while the cast was on? Have you ever wondered what a bear looks like when it comes out of hibernation, having spent 3 or more months lying around mostly sleeping? Are its muscles smaller? Bernd Heinrich's mind thinks like that, putting such questions together and then he goes off in search of an answer. If you only weigh a few ounces and are covered in feathers and it's -30 deg outside tonight, how do you live till morning? And why is it a good thing if there's fluffy snow on that evergreen tree? Heinrich knows. This book is all about how animals live through brutal weather, and the word "ingenuity' in the title is a fine descriptor. For us indoor folk, 20 deg is cold, but for some animals who can make it to -40, that's a cakewalk, and Heinrich will tell you how they do it. It's a wonderful set of stories and observations and scientific fact about many different animals. I still don't know how it came to be that I found a turtle dying in my garden on a 10 deg day recently (why was he/she out in the first place?), but I know more about why I'd better go fill my birdfeeders before the sun sets so the birds will literally have energy to burn when it's 15 deg tonight!

Summary: Naturalist Bernd Heinrich applies his unique blend of science and writing to the many innovative ways in which animals survive winter. Migration and hibernation are famous examples, and Heinrich investigates these phenomena in enough detail so that the reader can appreciate how amazing they really are. He also explores a host of other methods of survival, never allowing us to lose sight of a couple of key concepts that mark the difference between life and death for the untold billions of winter residents. The first is the idea that all behavior and physiology has evolved over the ages since animals first managed to coexist with the strange and frightening conditions that mark the advent of winter. The second is that each individual creature must maintain a positive energy surplus over the cold winter months; all winter survival strategies are predicated on the idea that a creature must stoke its inner fire with energy of some sort. Along the way, Heinrich interweaves his own experiments and experiences, leaving us with vivid pictures of his encounter with a fatally wounded snapping turtle, and watching a beaver lodge as the sun rises, for example. The signature winter animal that Heinrich returns to time and again is the kinglet, the world's smallest perching bird that somehow manages to eke out a living despite the fact that it weighs no more than two pennies. The kinglet is a fitting choice for the tireless Heinrich, because he unearths a variety of survival strategies that the kinglet employs, yet still leaves an air of mystery around this amazing bird, whose presence in the cold winter woods is still not fully explained. The Good and the Bad: Heinrich's writing remains impeccable. His own enthusiasm for his subjects leaps from every page. In contrast to so many nature writers, Heinrich is someone who derives a spiritual boost every time he walks into the woods, yet doesn't attribute this to any actual spirits. Heinrich is a man of science, first and foremost, and his childlike wonder at each stirring creature destroys the stereotype of scientists who study nature without truly understanding it. The concepts are explained in simple terms that we can all understand, and I found the mix of science and entertainment to be spot on. The chemical reactions that a bear undergoes while hibernating is educational and interesting; the story of a man who crashes through the ice onto a hibernating polar bear is entertaining. I have nothing bad to say about this book. Heinrich is at the top of his game, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Anyone who has walked in Thoreau's footprints and who can appreciate clear scientific thought will enjoy this detailed explanation of the fauna of the woods during winter. Heinrich has given us a wonderful tour of animals in wintertime, covering their habitats, physiology and evolutionary adaptations. A word of caution - this is not a book for people seeking warm fuzzy feelings about cute furry little creatures. It is a book about reality in its full splendor.

If you have enjoyed the nature writing of Farley Mowat orDavid Attenborough (The Life of Birds, The Private Life ofPlants), you'll enjoy this wonderful book. There are bookson nature which are dry and distanced: this is just theopposite. There are also books on nature which are primarilyobservational, such as Thoreau's Walden Pond and Annie Dillard'sPilgrim at Tinker Creek. Neither Thoreau nor Annie Dillardmeasured the rectal temperature of insects in the winter tohelp determine the mechanics of heat regulation. Most of themammals, birds, insects, and trees looked at by the author arehis neighbors in the winter woods: the love and enjoyment andthe curiosity about his environment is very evident. He wantsto know what these creatures do to cope and survive the severewinters where he lives in Maine and Vermont. Heinrich writes with great warmth and humor throughout the book.You'll follow his thoughts and discoveries about how the tinygolden-crowned kinglet survives the winter, when logic seems tosay that it shouldn't even survive a single below-zero night.On sunny days, even when the temperature is well below freezing,several dozen honeybees may emerge from the hive and just a fewseconds later will all be lying dead on the snow: this is a sacrificial testing mechanism by the hive to ensure that whenthe first flowers open up that a head start can be obtained forforaging. There are all kinds of fascinating things that youcould never imagine going on. Most of the nature in the bookcenters on Heinrich's own environment, but he also readily andoften talks at length about other species from around the world.The book is lavishly illustrated with drawings that help makeyou feel even more personally acquainted with the subjects.Heinrich is a scientist with a wonderful breadth of knowledge,and a superb talent for relating his love for nature, his appetite for discovery, and his humorous insights in a stylewhich gives enormous pleasure to the reader.