As the air turns cold and the rain becomes snow, our favorite little furry friends are packing up, tails and everything.

Squirrels don’t like that Pennsylvania cold any more than we do, and it takes a lot for their little fragile bodies to not break during the chilly months of December and January. However, contrary to popular belief, squirrels actually do not hibernate, they just sleep a lot! At least, gray squirrels do. Tree squirrels, unlike ground squirrels, do not hibernate. When the temperature starts becoming cold, tree squirrels find a nice little burrowed out area (preferably a tree) and cuddle up into a neat little ball like the one pictured here:

So, you may be asking, why don’t gray squirrels hibernate?

Well, I don’t have a scientific answer for you because I am a supply chain major. HOWEVER, gray squirrels have a lot of pent up energy as compared to other squirrel species, and even more importantly, need to eat food periodically throughout the winter to keep from starving.

I, personally, have been seeing an overwhelming number of squirrels around campus lately, and I hope you have too, but they are carrying out some much more serious work that simply looking adorable and scampering along— they are prepping their food supply! A given gray squirrel will bury as much as 3 years’ worth of food in the ground each and every year; talk about being prepared! On nicer days throughout the season, gray squirrels will sneak outside into the cold and recover some of their food supply to keep nurtured and maintain their fluffy, bulky figures.

Silly squirrel, you can’t hide nuts there.

However, if it is taking a while for the weather to warm up and our furry friends are hungry, they will head out to recover their food in the early morning or late afternoon. At these times of the day, the sun is rising and them coming to a set, meaning maximum warmth for the squirrels. Some squirrels will even go as far as to linger around outside during these hours of the day, despite how cold the temperature may still seem to us. If squirrels deem it comfortable, some will lay out and sun themselves during the previously mentioned hours of the day—legs sprawled out and all. I guess I can’t blame them though. After being cooped up in a dark, damp, tiny tree all day, I would want to feel the warmth of the sun too!

Squirrels also manage a livable body temperature throughout the winter by bulking up throughout the course of fall and… shivering! So cute. If the squirrels on campus have seemed larger than usual lately, it’s because they are. Squirrels are hardly worried about maintain their slim figures around this time of the year. And, as I mentioned before, shivering also helps the squirrels heat up! Shivering is not only a sign that you are cold, it also gets your blood flowing! Squirrels utilize this action every winter. If you see a squirrel shivering this winter, don’t be alarmed! They are not in danger, they are simply trying to keep warm.

Well, until things heat back up again, goodbye my furry friends.