“Now the shorter, darker days have shut off the tap of her reproductive hormones. Missing them is part of the reason her body mass shrinks and easily loses heat. But without those fierce mating and maternal juices, she gentles; she’s willing to welcome neighbors, kin or not, into her nest. Then, when each, alone, is smallest, most vulnerable to the cold, they huddle together, peaceable creatures whose communion creates the heat that shelters them.”
-“Meadow Vole,” All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss
