As winter begins to creep in and temperatures drop, a lesser-known but remarkable phenomenon is taking place beneath the water's surface—turtle hibernation. Turtles undergo a unique process for hibernation during the colder months that people might not expect: burrowing. Most people know that turtles are cold-blooded but it rarely crosses one's mind to ask exactly how these amphibians hibernate. As seen in their day-to-day habits like sunbathing, turtles require a stable temperature to be able to function properly. This is a problem for turtles that live in areas where the temperature varies drastically through the changing seasons.

Although it may not be the first thing that one would expect, even aquatic turtles like the painted and snapping turtles rely on burying themselves during hibernation. Once water temperatures begin to drop below what they are able to function at, they will find a safe sheltered spot at the bottom of slow moving rivers, lakes, or ponds, and will bury themselves in mud and debris.

For terrestrial turtles however, it varies a bit more by species how they choose to hibernate. For the vast majority of them they will find refuge in burrows or other protected areas to shield themselves from the cold. However some species such as the box turtle create a specialized burrow burying themselves several feet underground for insulation against extreme temperatures. Once underground, these turtles' metabolic rate drops drastically decreasing the need for oxygen so that the low amount of oxygen diffused from the water running over them is enough for them to stay alive during this process.

Because of this knowledge, some people that own box turtles have taken it upon themselves to bury their own turtles every fall in order to maintain this natural habit, digging their own hole, placing their turtle inside, and covering them with two feet of dirt. Not so surprisingly, this action has been met with a high amount of criticism on things such as how they knew that they were ready for hibernation or that these turtles are already kept at a consistent temperature and have no need for hibernation in the first place. On top of this, many box turtles, both wild and captive, will even die in hibernation as it is a risky process leaving people questioning the morality of people forcefully throwing their box turtles into hibernation.

Conservationists emphasize the importance of understanding turtle hibernation so that people can safeguard these unique creatures as disturbance of turtles while they are in hibernation and disturbance of turtles natural need for hibernation is lethal.