This is bird note.

For birds and other animals with good natural insulation, winter provides a striking benefit

as they scavenge.

Bacteria function very slowly, or not at all in the cold, preventing dead bodies from

rotting in sub-freezing temperatures.

By way of contrast, in tropical Africa, when an animal dies, bacteria quickly attack

the body and convert it to a smelly, toxic mess unsuitable as food for most organisms.

Vultures patrol the savanna skies, using their excellent sense of smell to find carcasses

before bacteria render them inedible.

But in northern latitudes, ravens and other scavenging birds and animals take advantage

of winter's cold storage.

When a caribou, mousse, or deer dies in Canada, Alaska, or other cold place in the winter,

it's available to be eaten for months and months.

Bacteria must wait until spring warms the carcass before they can begin to consume it.

That's why ravens can survive during the winter in the far north.

That's why wolverines are in much better shape in the winter than they are in summer.

Birds, magpies, wolverines, wolves, and foxes can rely on carcasses during the winter because

the microorganisms are suppressed by the cold.

For bird note, I'm Michael Stein.