As the days become shorter and the nights longer, plants and animals prepare for the cold winter ahead.
Animals prepare for the winter in several ways.
Some, such as squirrels and chipmunks, store food for winter, while others such as white-tailed deer, change their diet to more available food, including twigs and buds from different trees. Many birds fly south for the winter and several insects die, leaving behind eggs with young to emerge in the spring. Some insects, including mourning cloak butterflies, queen bumble bees and wasps and certain beetles, will spend the winter as an adult hidden in a protective place away from the cold. In Connecticut, our true hibernators include reptiles, amphibians, woodchucks, jumping mice and little brown bats. These animals enter a deep sleep-like state, as their body temperature drops, and they breathe very slowly.