How Animals Prepare For the Winter Months Ahead

You may get out your favorite fall sweaters and trade your summer shorts for leggings in the fall, but animals are also busy adapting to fall weather patterns. Consider these unique ways that animals adapt to autumn weather.

Bird Migration

Some species of birds migrate to areas with warmer temperatures in the fall. For example, the Arctic tern flies approximately 27,000 miles from Antarctica to Southern Canada to get to warmer temperatures. Meanwhile, the bar-tailed godwit often flies more than 7,000 miles from Alaska to New Zealand without stopping.

Birds rely on various things to tell them when it is time to migrate, including shorter daylight hours, changes in atmospheric pressure and hormone production in their bodies.