Something Stinks

This past week, seventh graders visited the nature center to practice wilderness skills as a way to prepare for their trip to Wolf Ridge in January. They did a great job learning how to engineer a warm, dry shelter and build fires that could boil water. Two of the days were cold - it felt good to be wearing longjohns, winter coats, hats, and mittens.

But Thursday felt like a late spring day. It was in the high 40s by late morning. As the groups looked for branches to use in their shelters and fires, their teacher spotted a bright green stink bug.

It's December. These bugs shouldn't be active anymore. But this one wasn't sluggish at all - just busy moving around.

An then, winter returned. Yesterday, Mother Nature dumped over 10 inches of heavy, wet snow on the southern part of the Twin Cities. (I got 10.5" in my backyard.)

I'm wondering where the stink bug is now and if it's even alive anymore. And more than just the stink bug, how many other animals were caught unprepared by the abrupt change? Some animals, like wood frogs, create an almost anti-freeze like substance within their bodies that let them freeze and survive winter's cold. As temperatures warm, chemical changes in the body break down the "anti-freeze" and the frog's metabolism revs up. This system gives the frogs a way to handle winter. But there has to be enough time for the frog to respond to changes in its environment.

For many animals, the amount of daylight is what triggers the changes to the body. But temperature affects some animals, too. And when we have these wild temperature swings, like the ones we've had this fall, it must impact certain animals. They can't adapt fast enough, so I guess, some days, it stinks to be a stink bug.