Snowshoe hares size range from 413 to 518 mm, and their tail can be 39 to 52 mm long. Their hind foot measures 117 to 147 mm in length. Their ears are 62 to 70 mm from notch to tip. Snowshoe hares usually weigh between 1.43 and 1.55 kg. Males are slightly smaller than females. Snow hares are larger than other rabbits and they weigh around three to four pounds.

 

They adapt to the environment by changing colors. In the summer its fur is rusty, grayish brown but is turns pure white in the winter, except for its eyelids and the tips of their ears. This helps it to hide from predators. They also have large rear feet and the toes can spread out to act like snowshoes. Their feet also have fur on the bottom, which protects them from the cold and gives them traction in the snow.

 

Snowshoe hares are most often found in open fields, fencerows, swamps, riverside thickets, cedar bogs and lowlands. The snowshoe hare lives in forest areas where the ground is covered with undergrowth in the higher parts of North America. Snowshoe hares are important prey animals in their ecosystem. They are found throughout Canada and in the Northern United States. Their populations are found as far south as the Rocky Mountains. They migrate throughout the mid west United States as well. There are Snowshoe hares in Canada and the United States.

 

When there is large vegetation, there is also a large population of Snowshoe hares. The reproductive period occurs between March and August. The females can have three to four litters a year with one to eight snowshoe hares in each litter 2 or 3 times a year. The Snowshoe Hare is not considered endangered but their populations have been studied since the 1800's. Every 10 years there is a rapid increase and then a rapid decrease. In some cases when there is construction or building on their land then there is a change to their population. Snowshoes hares are common throughout their range.

 

Their rapid reproduction makes it unlikely that they will become a major concern for conservationists. The population goes up and down across the range. There are more Snowshoe hares in northwestern Canada, and some in the rocky Mountain region of the United States. Since there is not much diversity in the Northwestern part of the hare's range that there means there are fewer links in the food chain and less species to either raise or drop their population.

 

Disease also plays a part in their population drops. They include ringworm, and salmonella. All these diseases have all been associated with population crashes. The Snowshoe Hare is a herbivore that likes to eat grass, clover and other greens in the summer, and bark, twigs and buds in the winter. Since they are herbivores they are mainly prey. Snowshoe hares are a vital link in the forest food chain. By eating plants, hares convert the sun's energy into animal protein. When hares eat bark from the stems of young trees, these saplings die.

 

In dense regrowth, tree thinning by hares is good. Thinning helps to produce healthy stands of timber. Their taste for plants and spruce seedlings, however, can destroy these costly plantations. The diet of snowshoe hares varies. They eat green grasses, jewelweed, wild strawberry, dandelions, clovers, daisies and horsetails. The new growth of trembling aspen, birches and willows is also eaten. During the winter, snowshoe hares forage on buds, twigs, bark, and evergreens. Since there are many Snowshoe hares in one are they can compete for food. They only have to compete with other herbivores to eat.

 

However, since they live in areas with plenty of grass, and trees they really do not have to worry about starving. The animals that eat Snowshoe hares are the wolf, bobcat, or lynx. They are experts at escaping predators like the gray foxes, red foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcat, or lynx. When a predator chases it, the rabbit can quickly change direction. They are also good swimmers and will jump in the water to make an escape. Snowshoe hares have good hearing, which helps them to identify approaching predators. They are not loud animals, but may make loud sounds when captured. When engaging in brawls, these animals may hiss and snort.

 

Most communication between hares involves thumping the hind feet against the ground. When I was researching Snowshoe hares I learned that they can reach top speeds when they travel up to 27 mile per hour. An adult hare can cover up to 10 feet in a single jump. In addition to high speeds, hares employ skillful changes in direction and vertical leaps, which may cause a predator, to not capture them. Snowshoe hares have been widely studied. One of the more interesting things known about hares are the population cycles that they undergo.

 

There can be1 to 10,000 hares per square mile. Once the young are born they are very active. They begin crawling at one day, nibbling grass at ten days, and get their own food after one month. There body has a bilateral symmetry which means that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. They are also Endothermic which means that they can metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature.

 

They breed from mid-March through August, when the testes of the male begin to regress. Gestation lasts 36 days. They retire to a birthing area, where they have prepared an area of packed down grasses. Females give birth to litters of up to 8 young, although the average litter size is usually two to four young. Litters born late in the season tend to be larger than litters born in the spring. Young snowshoe hares are precocial.

 

They are born fully furred and able to locomote. The young hide in separate locations during the day, only coming together for 5 to 10 minutes at a time to nurse. The female alone cares for them until they are weaned and disperse, about four weeks after they are born. In the wild, 85% of snowshoe hares do not live longer than one year.

 

Author: Anthony P

Published: 02/2007

 

Bibliography:

Banfield, A. W. F. 1974. The mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Cooney, Judd. "Snowshoe Hare in Summer and Winter." Encarta Encyclopedia. 1993. Hall, E. R. 1981. The mammals of North America, 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Hodges, K. E.. The ecology of snowshoe hares in northern boreal forests. In Ecology and Conservation of Lynx in the United States. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 2000. "Environmental Education for Kids" http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/mammal/hare.htm 10 Feb. 2007 "Snowshoe Hare." 20 Jan. 2007 http://interactive.usask.ca/Ski/forestry/ecosystems/indicator_hare.html. "University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web." 22 Jan. 2007 http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Lepus_americanus.html