Question about animals living in the soil.?

Question

some animals burrow thru the ground and live there during winter, cos apparently the air there is warmer than outside. So, suppose it had a white outer covering (to camouflage in the snow when it goes out to seek food). Will it get dirty if it stays in the soil? How will it get back the white dirt-less outer covering (creative, but realistic answers acceptable)

And, say the animal stays underground forever. Ok, so when the temp. rises a little, to say... about 10 degrees Celsius.

The soil gets soggy, right?

Will that affect the animal that lives there?

Your help is greatly appreciated. You are welcome to answer this even if you know at least one of the answers.

Answer 1

Well, first off, animals do tend to have the inclination towards keeping themselves clean for a reason.  Second, even if they didn't, snow is rarely pure white on the ground.  It's normally interspersed with dirt, and therefore a bit of brown mixed in really doesn't make it more visible.  Many of these animals also feed underground off of roots.  Soggy soil only occurs in the upper portions.  The animals taht burrow tend to go under permafrost areas, so the soil down there stays at a moderate temperature.  Hope this is helpful.