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THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, January 13, 2011


WILD WINTER TOURS SHOW HOW NATIVE ANIMALS ADAPT


by Roger Amsden News Correspondent


HOLDERNESS - A series of Wild Winter Tours offered on weekends at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center will allow visitors to see native animals in all their winter glory. Staff naturalists guide


the reservation-only tours on the Gephart Exhibit Trail and explain the ways in which the animals are well-adapted for winter life in snowy New Hamp- shire woodlands. Eric D’Aleo, one of the


staff naturalists who leads the tours, says that not only do the animals grow longer winter coats but they are also able to find food under the snow, like the foxes on display whose keen hearing en- ables them to locate small prey burrowing through the snow. There are also deer, fish-


Fishers aren’t members of the cat family, and that the resident black bears aren’t true hibernators, like the ground hog, but are semi-active and often awake in the winter. D’Aleo says that one


of the most amazing ad- aptations is that of the wood frog, many of which can be found frozen solid during the winter, but still survive due to the presence of antifreeze like substance in their body which protects their or- gans from the cold. The mountain lions,


A mountain lion checks out visitors at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness.


ROGER AMSDEN PHOTO


ercats, bobcats, black bear and even mountain lions on display at exhib-


its along the trail. D’Aleo also dispels some misconceptions about the


animals, pointing out that the term Fisher Cat is actually a misnomer, as


who came to the center in January of 2003 after having been orphaned in Montana, have become one of the major attrac- tions at the center, and are featured at feeding time during many of the programs at the center. The Wild Winter Tours will take place on Satur-


See TOURS on 30


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