Winter Comes To The Forest (1964)

[Music] this is the forest in summer among the trees and other plants animals find shelter in Fall the forest changes many trees lose their leaves some of the birds fly south to warmer weather and some of the animals such as the rabbit grow thicker coats of fur winter is coming to the forest the days become colder and in many parts of our country winter brings snow the forest is very still what happens to the forest in Winter are the plants and animals living the trees look bare and dead and the smaller plants are brown and dry but the trees aren't really dead they've just changed for the winter the leaves have fallen but there are buds on the branches the buds have tiny leaves folded up inside and in Spring the leaves will grow again other plants are alive too even though they may look Brown and dead these long thin plants are called horsetails if we were to brush away the snow we'd see that the lower parts of the plants are green and still living many plants appear dead above the snow but the roots underground are still alive and new plants will grow again in the spring other plants do not live through the winter but leave seeds which are alive in this part of a milked plant there are many seeds they will fall to the ground and in Spring will grow into new plants what do the animals do when winter comes to the forest we can't see animals now but many are still here some have found sheltered places under the snow and some are in the water beneath the ice on the pond if we look more closely at the trees we may see how some of the smaller animals spend the winter do you see the Cocoon on this twig inside this cocoon a caterpillar is changing into a moth and will come out in the spring this spider egg sack looks like a cocoon many spiders cannot live through the winter but they spin an egg sack inside this protective covering are the spider eggs that will hatch when winter is over some insects lay eggs in the ground before the snow comes others lay them on the bark of trees the small bump on this bark is called a g inside the gall are insect eggs that will hatch in the spring below the snow and deep in the ground we may find an ant nest the ants spend the winter in their nest Which is far below the frozen ground in a place such as this hollow log other insects may find shelter inside a log certain kinds of butterflies may stay until the days become warm again they spend the winter in a kind of deep sleep what about the other animals in the forest what happens to them in Winter remember the sheltered place we saw before it's the entrance to an animal's home an animal's underground home is called a burrow this burrow is the home of a chipmunk during winter the Chipmunk sleeps much of the time in the special deep sleep called hibernation if we look closely we can see that the Chipmunk is breathing but very very slowly the Chipmunk May wake up to eat but it also uses some of the fat stored in its body before winter came this kind of sleeping hibernation is the way Chipmunks gophers and other fairy animals live through the winter other animals stay in sheltered places too when the weather grows cold the snakes in the forest May crawl under large Stones like these these garter snakes do not move during the cold weather in the forest Pond other animals spend the winter beneath the ice and snow on the pond in the cold water frogs and turtles remain very still this frog will stay on the bottom of the pond and not move much until the water becomes warm again in the spring but other animals in the forest do not stay in sheltered places or hibernate certain birds are active in the forest through the winter the chick is one bird that does not fly south but stays in the forest birds like the chick and the Downey woodpecker eat insect eggs and hibernating insects that they find in the bark of trees the junko eats the seeds left by plants in the fall the owl is another bird that stays in the forest all winter long other animals roam the forest in winter too leaving their Footprints or tracks in the snow here's the cottontail rabbit looking for food sometimes the rabbit eats the bark of young trees or saplings which it gnaws off with its sharp teeth this big nest of leaves is the home of another animal that stay stays in the forest all winter the squirrel we can see the squirrel almost any day in the forest in Winter for food the squirrel eats the nuts and seeds which it stored in the ground or in its nest before winter came the deer must look for food in the winter too in the winter the deers stay together in a group or herd the deer's winter fur is long and thick and protects it from the cold although life is difficult in cold weather there are many animals and plants that are alive in the forest during the winter when the weather begins to get warm once more the snow begins to [Music] melt willows are one sign of spring on the branches of the trees the buds are [Music] opening the Cocoon we saw in the winter is empty and the moth has come [Music] out a spider is busy spinning a web and a rabbit has a new family of babies animals that were hibernating are awake and hungry the frog has come up out of the pond into the sun and the deer is growing a new set of antlers spring has come to the forest after The Long Winter