Snowshoe hare

Summer coat

Winter coat

The snowshoe hare is Lepus americanus, found in North America. It is a kind of hare adapted to cold climates. It is white in colour in the winter.

A major predator of the snowshoe hare is the Canada lynx. There are historical records of animals caught by fur hunters over hundreds of years. The records show show the lynx and hare numbers rising and falling in a cycle. This has made the hare a case study of the relationship between numbers of predators and their prey.

Snowshoe Hare Media

• 

  Snowshoe hare in a dense shrub layer

• 

  Juveniles are usually more active and less cautious than adults.

• 

  Snowshoe hares are most active in twilight and at night, but are active year-round. This hare is seen as breeding season begins, in late April in Alaska.

• 

  Numbers of snowshoe hare (yellow, background) and Canada lynx (black line, foreground) furs sold to the Hudson's Bay Company. Canada lynx eat snowshoe hares.

• 

  Snowshoe hare in winter, well-camouflaged but lacking cover.

• 

  Snowshoe hare in coniferous forest.

• 

  Snowshoe hare in partly coniferous cover

• 

  Snowshoe hare amid narrow woody stems bearing the marks of its teeth. In winter snow, appropriate stem diameters are essential browse.

• 

  Tracks of a hopping snowshoe hare in snow; rounder forefeet together, longer rear feet apart, forefeet together again.

• 

  Snowshoe hare eating grass in summer