Go Underground: Burrow Below!
Amazingly, many animals spend all winter on the tundra without hibernating! This means that they have to find a way to protect themselves from the elements and find food sources all winter.
One way to find food and protection from the arctic conditions is to burrow below the snow. Pocket Gophers tunnel through the soil, finding energy-rich roots of tundra plants to eat all winter. They push the dirt and debris from their digging into snow tunnels to get rid of it. When the snow melts, the dirt and waste material is left behind on the tundra. Look for long, thin tubes of dirt as evidence of the work gophers did all winter under the protective snow!
Other burrowing tundra animals that remain active all winter are voles, mice, and shrews. One of their main predators, weasels, have tube-shaped bodies that let them pursue their prey through their own tunnels!
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Here
are some students investigating gopher excavations. These skinny, winding
piles of dirt and debris are called "Gopher Eskers". |
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Here's
a closer look at some gopher eskers melting out of a snowbank. You probably
won't see any gophers up on the tundra since they stay underground in
the summer, too, but you should be able to find gopher eskers if you
look hard enough! |