The wild ways in which some P.E.I. animals survive winter

While there hasn't been much snow in the province so far this winter, Prince Edward Island did recently experience some record-low temperatures. 

Some animals hibernate or leave P.E.I. for warmer locations as winter approaches, but many others tough it out. 

They're able to do that by making some adaptations. 

Kate MacQuarrie is the director of forests, fish and wildlife with P.E.I.'s Environment Department. 

She's a professional biologist and naturalist who shares her knowledge about eating wild foods and tracking wild animals on social media, as well as giving workshops and talks.

We asked her to pick a few of the more interesting animals that spend winters on P.E.I., no matter how cold it gets. 

MacQuarrie said snowshoe hares are often the first animals people think about when it comes to winter wildlife adaptations on P.E.I. 

They turn white in the winter and have large hind feet that act like snowshoes. 

When it comes to what they eat — things get a little gross. 

"Snowshoe hares are not strict vegetarians, so when it gets really cold, they actually will scavenge on dead wildlife, including dead snowshoe hare," she said. 

"And they'll reingest their own feces. So if you think of an animal eating bark and buds and things like that — not a lot of energy, hard to digest. So they excrete it out. It gets coated with bacteria that help break it down. Then they reingest it to go through a second digestion process."

Snowshoe hares are active all winter long, but spend cold, windy days sheltering under dense spruce trees.

That also helps them stay out of sight of predators. 

If you're looking closely, you might see their tracks, MacQuarrie said. They look like they're doing leapfrog, with two large hind feet landing in front of two offset front feet.