It's so cold I can't move!

This is not a recipe for ice cream. It's a story about getting frozen alive! What would it be like to have portions of your body freeze through the winter, only to thaw when you revive the next spring? Reptiles (turtles and snakes in New England) are ectotherms - their body temperatures vary with their surroundings.

When cold weather sets in, their metabolism slows to almost nothing, so they have no choice but to hibernate. For snakes and turtles, home for the winter might be the soft mud of the bottom of a pond, a rocky crevice, a decaying log or even just a cover of moss or leaves. These areas provide some protection from the elements, but when temperatures dip below freezing, it can be a struggle to keep from freezing yourself.

Sleeping chipmunk

Freezing causes water to expand. This is a dangerous to animals (including ourselves) because we have water in the cells of our body - freeze us and our cells will expand and break. That can mean death. So what do ectotherms do? They can't generate their own heat, and in New England, it will get below freezing. Of course, nature has figured out what to do. By producing special proteins, these creatures are able to prevent their bodies' cells from freezing and allow ice to form only in the spaces between cells. They're actually able to tolerate partial freezing! Unfortunately, people can't do that, although it may feel like it when you're snowboarding.