Did you know some animals change color as the season changes to winter?
They shed their dark coats for lights ones to survive but it isn’t all as you might
think.
First up we have the peary caribou.
Being the smallest caribou species they are the only ones that transform their coat to
a bright white in winter.
In summer they are a mix of white and slate gray with a purple muzzle… which is from
eating too many purple saxifrages these purple flowers.
As the temperature drops, they develop their white coats which contain hollow hairs that
help trap warm air and keep them insulated.
Other species of caribou do experience a shift in their coat color but it is only ever so
slightly lighter and nothing to the degree of the peary caribou.
The peary can run like the wind when they need too like when the arctic wolf shows up
but it makes their life a lot easier when the wolf can’t see them because they blend
into the snow.
This adaptation keeps them safe in winter where other species of caribou have evolved
to grow larger to be more a force against a hungry wolf in warmer more southern climates.
The Siberian hamster or also called the winter white dwarf hamster or Russian dwarf hamster
is one that turns completely white in winter.
This process starts in October or November and goes until December when it is complete.
In summer they have a few different colorations, a normal ash grey, dark brown, pale brown
or one called sapphire which is more of a bluish-grey.
All of these fur coats are dark everywhere but their stomach which is lighter like a
light grey.
After molting is complete in December they will be completely white with a slightly darker
face.
This winter white form keeps them safe in their winter burrows which are dug 3 feet
or a meter below the surface from my their main predator the weasel.
Of all the animals in this video, this would be the only one that could be kept as a pet
if you want a color-changing pet and I can’t imagine anyone wanting a peary caribou sleeping
at the foot of their bed.
Brownish gray in summer to an ice-white in winter the arctic fox completely transforms
its coat in the winter.
Unlike the previous two that transform to blend in with their environment as a defensive
mechanism, the arctic fox wants to blend in to make it easy to catch their prey when a
blanket of snow is on the ground.
Existing in northern cold regions across the globe, oddly enough coastal populations in
Alaska and here in Canada, the arctic fox is a slate gray and only lighten their coats
slightly during winter.
These animals have been continually pushed north as the climate changes on earth and
the red fox, the main predator and cousin of the arctic fox takes over their territory.
Red foxes are more dominant in overlapped territory and will sometimes eat arctic foxes
pushing them north.
Fur trappers have introduced the arctic fox to the Aleutian Islands this string of island
between Russian and Alaska in the Bering sea with the idea that they could increase their
populations on these remote islands and thus profit from selling their pelts which command
a higher price in markets.
Ptarmigans these spotty white birds of the north not only turn white but have a few other
transformative abilities.
Related to chickens, grouse and pheasants these birds spend most of their time in a
mottled, patchy black, brown state through spring and fall as it helps camouflage them
with patchy snow, rocks and branches in nature.
As the snow picks up and the ground becomes completely white they transform to their white
state in varying degrees depending on the species.
There are 3 species of ptarmigans, the rock ptarmigan which retains some black feathers
in their tail in winter, the willow ptarmigan which keeps a few spots and the white-tailed
ptarmigan which will turn completely white.
Not only do these birds turn white they’ll develop long tuffs on their feet which help
insulate but also provide a wider base of contact on the snow allowing them to walk
on it without sinking in.
Within their winter feathers are air bubbles that also provide insulation and will scatter
light creating the illusion they are brighter than they actually are which ends up being
brighter than other white birds in the region.
Another animal with 3 species that changes white in winter is the weasel.
The least weasel, long-tailed weasel and short-tailed weasel all change color with the season.
Weasels an animal in the middle of the predator-prey food chain rely on the white coloring for
protection mostly.
While they may get some benefit being solid white while hunting small rodents in winter
they typically do this under the layer of snow.
The true benefit comes from hungry owls, hawks, and mink looking to spot an easy meal.
It is suggested this color transformation is in response to photoperiod or a reduced
among of daylight per day to cue their molts or shedding of dark fur.
Weasels will change color regardless of location or temperature which leads us to believe it
is directly related to sun exposure.
Both the least weasel and long-tailed turn white but the short-tailed weasel retains
a black tip to their tail which was a sought after fur pattern of royalty and clergy of
a former time.
Another animal with 3 changing species is the hare.
The arctic hare which shouldn’t be of any surprise, the snowshoe hare and mountain hare
all turn white in winter.
Like many of the others, they are brown or gray in summer and after the daily sunlight
hours start to diminish like the weasel the hares will naturally start to change to their
bright white coat.
This is triggered by receptors in the retina which transmit that information to the brain,
nature is so awesome, right?
Unfortunately with our climate changing the hare is having a hard time adapting to reduced
snow cover leaving them exposed in winter unable to conceal themselves.
Now technically there is another hare, argue in the comments about this if you will, that
turns white that is the white-tailed jackrabbit.
In summer they are yellowish gray with a distinctive white tail.. hence the name but in winter
that all turns white except the black tips on their ears?
Being the world’s 2nd largest hare they are preyed upon by bigger predators like hawks,
bobcats, mountain lions, gray wolves, snakes, owls and eagles like the golden eagle.
Like many of the others, this white coat keeps them hidden against the snow.
The collared lemming a small rodent native to tundra biomes near the arctic is one that
can change color but doesn’t really need to.
In summer as you see they are a mix of black brown and orange which works well to blend
into their environment but in winter after a thick layer of snow is on the ground they
don’t even come up to the surface.
They live in beneath the snow and tunnel their way to arctic willows to chow down on their
stems.
This is all done the snow which they actually develop winter claws to help themselves dig
through the drifts.
While they do transform from their mix of black, brown and orange to a bright white,
no animals above the surface of the snow would know that as the collared lemming won’t
make their appearance to the world until the snow melts.
For this episode’s riddle, from now on I’ll give the answer in the episode, the last episode’s
answer was pineapple.
See if you can get this one:
“I am born of water but when I return to water, I die.
What am I?”
If you enjoyed this episode why not check out my episode on how the megafaunal wolf
became the dog or another video here that is recommended for you and until the next
one have a good one.