den

The shelter or lair of a wild animal — a bear's winter den, a fox's earth, a wolf's den dug into a hillside. A den is chosen or excavated for concealment, protection from weather, and safety during the vulnerable periods of birth and hibernation. Den sites are often reused across generations, the soil packed hard and polished by decades of animal bodies. Finding a den is finding the private life of a species — the place where it is most itself.