Tonight I finished reading a fascinating book by Bernd Heinrich. "Winter World" is a book about how animals survive living outdoors in the winter time. As mentioned in an earlier post Bernd Heinrich is a biologist and professor at the University Of Vermont.... In this book here are just a few of the things I learned about animal survival.-------A tiny bird, the golden-crowned kinglet weighing 5 to 6 grams, about the size of a humming bird, survives sub-zero temperatures in Northern Maine and though out Canada. It is an amazing story how they do it.--------Four common North American hibernating frogs, the wood frog, gray tree frog, spring peeper, and chorus frog--all tolerate being frozen. In freezing-tolerant frogs there is extensive ice formation in the body cavity and in the spaces between the cells, as a matter of fact up to 65% of the total body water in the wood frog may be ice, but the frogs survive because no ice crystals form inside the frog's cells......professor Heinrich explains how this process is accomplished.------ Bears hibernate for up to five months a year and during that period of hibernation do not releive themselves of any metabolic waste. If a human went that long poisons would build up in the blood and kill us. Winter World explains how a bears physiology is different from ours in that regard.-- ---In the frozen north beavers remain in near- absolute darkness under the frozen ice of ponds for months on end.-----Professor Heinrich also tells about survival techniques of Squirrels, mice, chipmunks, various kinds of birds, insects, including bees, bats, turtles and many more animals. This book is a must read for the nature lover. So if you have ever wondered, as you are comfortably cocooned in your bed on a snowy winter night, how the birds are surviving in the trees just outside your window, then this is the book for you.----Professor Heinrich credits natural selection and evolution for the incredible survival skills of animals. I however see the hand of the master designer (God) in all of this. When you read of the ways that animals manage to survive the elements and the things that go on inside their bodies, it just makes sense to me that a higher power has to be involved.....This book is a great read, and so educational, I thoroughly enjoyed it.