As the calendar turns to the deep stillness of winter and we hang festive lights against the long nights, our thoughts naturally drift to warmth, gifts, good food, and family.

But step beyond the glow of your window and into the hushed woods and fields, and you’ll encounter a different kind of wonder — a quiet, breathtaking demonstration of perseverance in the face of cold and scarcity.

The natural world around us is not dormant; it is simply practising its greatest winter art: enduring.

Symbolizing life’s vigour, the balsam fir — my favourite Christmas tree — fills our homes with a resinous northern fragrance. These evergreens provide a living lesson in endurance, remaining vibrant through months of cold and darkness. By sealing moisture behind waxy needles and slowing their metabolism, conifers embody resilience and hope.

The natural world also supplies a host of other Yuletide adornments: radiant cardinals, chickadees fluffed like ornaments, hoarfrosted windows, and shimmering icicles. Nor should we forget nature’s seasonal soundtrack — the cracking and booming of forming lake ice, the shrill scolding of red squirrels, and the deep croak of ravens patrolling winter skies.

At the heart of this season lies the winter solstice, the quiet astronomical hinge when the sun appears to pause and the longest night finally yields to returning light. Although December feels like an ending, it is neither end nor beginning. Like every other month, it is simply one point in a continuous cycle.

This Christmas, let’s look beyond our homes to how other species survive the season’s cold and lack of food — and prepare for renewal. Their strategies reveal the ingenuity of evolution and the quiet power of patience.

Many mammals survive winter through prolonged torpor — a deep sleep that is less rigid than true hibernation.

Black bears are the most famous practitioners. In their dens, they spend months with only a slight drop in body temperature, allowing them to awaken quickly if disturbed. Remarkably, bears can recycle urea in their urine back into protein, preserving muscle and bone despite months of inactivity — a biological feat that would be........

© Peterborough Examiner