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Some Wildlife Can Handle Cold, Some Can't

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Some animals suffer, while some persevere, as cold hits wildlife as well as the rest of us around Chicago.

As WBBM Newsradio John Cody reports, Jeff Walk, science director for the Illinois Nature Conservancy, says some animals do just fine even with temperatures in single digits and below. Among birds, chickadees are particularly adaptive.

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"Chickadees are very cold-hardy, and they seem to shrug off the cold temperatures, as long as they can find an adequate supply of food," Walk said.

But Walk said small ground feeders such as quail are the snow cap to seeds beneath, and are thus likely to see some population decrease, at least temporarily.

Also of concern are small mammals born in the fall, and still lacking fat reserves to hold them until the weather warms up.

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