Here are some unique ways that animals survive winter’s deep freeze. But for the wood frogs that live across New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest that cold is much more frequent. For months, wood frogs will burrow underneath leaf litter on forest floors with no breathing, heartbeat, or brain activity. This means that the newly active wood frogs can mate and lay eggs in small ponds earlier than other frogs. A northern cardinal visits a feeder at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.