Many species of animals, such as turtles, frogs, spiders, and beetles, can actually survive the freezing temperatures of winter.  But how?

The most obvious strategy for creatures who must survive the winter is to avoid freezing temperatures.   Many types of turtles and frogs, for example, burrow deep into the floor of ponds and lakes and are protected from freezing because the ground below the pond remains unfrozen.

Another survival mechanism is familiar to anyone who drives a car: some creatures use an antifreeze compound (similar to the ethylene or propylene glycol used in automobiles) to avoid freezing.  Animals use two basic types of antifreeze:  proteins and glycols.

The protein antifreeze binds to "nucleators," the tiny ice crystals that form as the temperature drops, and prevents them from growing into large crystals.  The formation of large crystals would cause the rupture of tissue because water expands upon freezing.  The species that rely on glycols are taking direct advantage of the colligative properties just discussed.  By concentrating these low-molecular-weight compounds in their tissues, the animals lower the freezing point of the fluid.  Some of these species have glycols that total as much as 19% of their body weight, enabling them to withstand temperatures down to -38 °C. 

A third group of animals survives the cold by living with some freezing.  They use antinucleation proteins as well as a protein that actually encourages ice crystal formation.  Thousands of tiny ice crystals develop in the body yet remain extremely small.  The species in this group also have a variety of compounds, usually sugars, in their blood and extracellular fluids that prevent cells from collapsing or exploding because of differences in osmotic pressure.  Whenever there are large differences in concentrations of solutes on the two sides of a cell, membrane osmotic pressures can become great enough to burst the membrane.

Animals that can withstand low temperatures have developed highly specialized processes to avoid severe cell damage.  While at first it might seem that these animals defy solution properties through magic, in reality most of their special processes take advantage of the colligative properties of solutions.

Reger/Goode/Mercer:  Chemistry Principles and Practice,  2/e,  p. 508