Julie Larsen Maher is staff photographer for WCS, the first woman to hold the position since the society's founding in 1895. In addition to documenting her field visits, Maher photographs the animals at WCS's five New York-based wildlife parks: the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo. Dan Rosen is managing editor of digital programming for the Wildlife Conservation Society. The authors contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Winter wildlife watching is at its best and most beautiful when temperatures fall, bringing snow.

Big cats like Amur tigers and snow leopards are well-adapted to the cold. They are specially winterized, with coats that become more soft and dense with the change in weather. Large paws covered in extra fur help them cross ground that's carpeted in snow. Snowy owls and Reeves's pheasants tolerate both hot and cold weather. Thick feathers insulate them from harsh conditions. Fowl -- like ducks, geese and swans -- wear their brightest plumage during the winter months. Other birds boast white feathers that are the color of the season, which serve as camouflage in snowy environments. Coyotes and bears revel in freshly fallen snow. Their tracks, trails and tunnels are all signs of the winter ways of wildlife.

The Wildlife Conservation Society's goal is to conserve the world's largest wild places, focusing in 15 priority regions that are home to more than 50 percent of the world's biodiversity. Many animals from around the globe live at WCS's five wildlife parks in New York, in all the seasons, including winter.

Snow Leopard

There's something magical about snow leopards. WCS's legendary conservationist George Schaller hints at it in his book, "Stones of Silence," when he describes a memorable encounter in the hills of Pakistan in the 1970s. While hiking, he spotted the big cat roughly 150 feet away. "Though snow soon capped her head and shoulders," he wrote, "she remained, silent and still, seemingly impervious to the elements. Wisps of clouds swirled around, transforming her into a ghost creature, part myth and part reality."

Snowy Owl

Not surprisingly, given its name, the snowy owl is well-adapted to wintry conditions . It's known to summer far north of the Arctic Circle. And unlike most owls, which hunt at night, the snowy owl is active during the day -- a necessary adaption in a place where the sun sometimes doesn't go down at all. Come winter, the bird moves south, occasionally as far as the southern United States.

Brown Bears

In the wild, these bears hibernate in winter. They'll often set up a den -- perhaps along a sheltered slope, under a large rock or between the roots of a large tree -- and return to it each year. Female grizzlies typically give birth to two cubs in January or February. The newborns are blind, hairless and tiny, weighing less than a lb. They stay in the safe surroundings of the den until springtime, by which time they've grown to about 20 lbs.

White-naped Crane

Tall and regal, white-naped cranes are migratory birds found in Russia, China, Mongolia, and North and South Korea. They are considered a conservation priority for WCS's program in Mongolia, where the birds face serious threats that include agricultural development and habitat loss through the drying of wetlands due to climate change.

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