As the days shorten and the weather gets colder, it’s easy for most of us humans to adapt. Simply break out the long underwear, dust off the winter coat and we’re pretty much ready to go, at least here in the Midwest. Now what about those animals out in the wild? While we’re all familiar with bears hibernating through the winter, birds migrating to warmer settings and other animals living off stored food that they’ve been saving up since the summer, how the heck do those animals who remain active not only brave the elements but function in these conditions, especially in the coldest regions of the world? Understanding the answer to this question requires an appreciation for the adaptability, resiliency and creativity of leatherback turtles, penguins, arctic foxes, golden-crowned kinglets and many other animals.

Around for more than 100 million years, the leatherback turtle has certainly evolved as a deep sea diver capable of surviving in the coldest, deepest waters. For these unique reptiles, it’s good to be big. Weighing up to 2,000 pounds, leatherbacks remain warm in cold water in large part to their mass and natural abilities to slow heat loss. Outgoing blood warms cool blood in the leatherback flippers before it reaches the body core, and a sphincter in these turtle’s throats shuts off blood flow to the lungs when diving, allowing these amazing creatures to conserve energy when needed. In the deepest waters, leatherbacks get plenty of sustenance from jellyfish, their favorite meal.
While penguins may be celebrated in film for their triumphs on land (and aided outside the water during the cold by their compact feathers, including up to 70 feathers per square inch), these intriguing fellas do spend nearly 3/4 of their lives in the water. So what is the key to their success? Chalk it up to an insulating layer of blubber and the ability to generate body heat by staying active (penguins are able to jet through the water at speeds of up to 15 mph). Other ways penguins stay warm include tucking in their flippers to reduce the surface area for heat loss, absorbing heat from the sun via their black, back feathers, and reducing their contact with the ice by tipping up their feet and standing on their heels in a tripod-like position.
While penguins may be celebrated in film for their triumphs on land (and aided outside the water during the cold by their compact feathers, including up to 70 feathers per square inch), these intriguing fellas do spend nearly 3/4 of their lives in the water. So what is the key to their success? Chalk it up to an insulating layer of blubber and the ability to generate body heat by staying active (penguins are able to jet through the water at speeds of up to 15 mph). Other ways penguins stay warm include tucking in their flippers to reduce the surface area for heat loss, absorbing heat from the sun via their black, back feathers, and reducing their contact with the ice by tipping up their feet and standing on their heels in a tripod-like position.
While penguins may be celebrated in film for their triumphs on land (and aided outside the water during the cold by their compact feathers, including up to 70 feathers per square inch), these intriguing fellas do spend nearly 3/4 of their lives in the water. So what is the key to their success? Chalk it up to an insulating layer of blubber and the ability to generate body heat by staying active (penguins are able to jet through the water at speeds of up to 15 mph). Other ways penguins stay warm include tucking in their flippers to reduce the surface area for heat loss, absorbing heat from the sun via their black, back feathers, and reducing their contact with the ice by tipping up their feet and standing on their heels in a tripod-like position.

For other warm-blooded mammals like whales, seals and walruses, it certainly helps to be big, as the larger the mammal, the lesser the surface area to lose heat. With that said, fur seals benefit not only from weighing roughly 600 pounds as adults but having thick under and overcoats that they shed once a year, and blubber under the skin that can range from one to six inches. For Beluga whales, five inches of blubber certainly helps, as do unique adaptations like a dorsal fin that can break through ice for attaining fresh air, a flexible neck that allows for more maneuverability while navigating cold waters during migration, and amazing endurance (these whales can cover 100 miles in one day). Eat your heart out, Michael Phelps.
Outside the water, land-based animals must be as adaptive to the perils of the Arctic tundra in order to ensure survival. What blubber is to keeping penguins, seals, whales and walruses warm, fur is to caribou, musk oxen and arctic wolves, with the last two examples having thick, long hair overcoats and supplemental undercoats of fleece and fur, respectively. In comparison to other wolves, arctic wolves have smaller, rounder ears and shorter muzzles and legs that help them reduce heat loss. For some animals like the arctic fox, snowshoe hare, collared lemming, and ermine (least weasel), their fur actually changes colors from brownish-gray to white during the winter, offering them not only a needed blanket but an advantageous form of camouflage that makes them hard to identify in the snow. Lemmings, which look like fat furry hamsters, and arctic ground squirrels (the only arctic animal to hibernate) also keep themselves warm by staying in tunnels under the snow (as Ben Folds Five once sang, “you can be happy underground”), while hundreds of arctic hare display another crafty way of generating heat by congregating and packing themselves close to each other.

Last but not least is the cool story of the golden-crowned kinglet, a tiny bird that resides in Canada and various parts of the United States, Central America and Mexico. Weighing less than a fifth of an ounce, this bird species is able to survive cold weathers via several intriguing adaptations. Researchers have found that the kinglets subsist on hibernating inchworms that reside in their stomachs, keep warm via their plentiful feathers that insulate their small bodies, provide further insulation by puffing out thier bodies (similar to many other birds), and huddle together at night for even more warmth.
Read more at http://www.momtastic.com/webecoist/2009/10/16/natures-cold-weather-warriors-14-resilient-adaptive-animals/#iIKJZAFBJjZphPJe.99

A café in Brooklyn has become an unexpected center of diplomacy for two of nature's most adversarial animals: cats and rats.

In partnership with the Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition, the Brooklyn Cat Café in New York City typically houses about 20 cats that are up for adoption. Visitors can stop by for treats and to interact with the animals, some of which may end up finding new homes.

In one case, though, a kitten housed at the café was diagnosed with feline leukemia and had to be isolated from other cats to prevent the disease from spreading. Feline leukemia is one of the most common infectious diseases seen in cats. An estimated two to three percent of cats in the U.S. have the virus, which is contained in bodily fluids and is spread by close contact, like mating or bite wounds. After being diagnosed with the condition, cats live for only about two and a half years.

The situation prompted the café owners to seek out a different kind of companion animal for the black kitten, named Ebony. That's how they came to adopt a white rat from a nearby rescue center, which they named Ivory. Rats cannot contract the feline leukemia virus, making Ivory an ideal companion for the small kitten.

Ebony died after five months, but the café owners believe her life was "immeasurably enriched" by having a companion. After two years Ivory died (rat lifespans average around two years), and the café decided to continue bringing in companion rats from a nearby animal rescue center, starting with a pair named Remy and Emile.

According to the café's website, rats are unafraid of kittens because they're relatively similar in size. The kittens often chase and pounce on the rats' tails, which the café says is OK as long as the kittens are gentle.

Domestic cats evolved to be solitary hunters, and kittens learn hunting behaviors from their mothers. When separated early from their mothers or the rest of their litter, some kittens can show too much or too little aggression, according the Humane Society. And when they become adults, their potential relationship with rats gets more complicated.

Katie Lisnik is the director of cat protection at the Humane Society International. She notes that regardless of anecdotal stories about interspecies relationships, cats still act on instinct, and rats are their natural prey.

"Even though bonds are formed, rats can move in a certain way that triggers the cat's [hunting] response," she says.

Sarah Gibbens, the reporter, is an associate digital producer at National Geographic