Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Dirt dens are a sensible way for animals to tuck in and get out of the cold, the heat, and the wet, to say nothing of predators. 

The list of animals that hibernate in underground burrows, live in burrows, or nest in burrows is astounding: many types of fox, all types of badger, many types of turtle and tortoise, some owls and parrots, all kinds of ground squirrels and marmots, some penguins and puffins, chipmunks, wombats, European rabbits, several types of bears, wolves and dogs, cicadas, stoats, weasels, platypus, ferrets, otter, some wild pigs, voles, aardvarks, aardwolves, some wild cats, many snakes and lizards, beaver, nutria, alligators, catfish, coyotes, salamanders, mole crickets, possums, raccoons, wombats, hedgehogs, bats, swiflets, pangolins, frogs and toads, several kinds of shrimp, moles, mice and rats, crayfish, clams, kingfishers, many kinds of worms, armadillos, skunks, muskrats, meerkats, some large spiders, and several types of wasps and bees.