|
|
Name of Animal:
Lepus Americanus or the Snowshoe Hare
Food Resources/Classification of Animal:
During the summer, the snowshoe hare eats green plants such as clovers, grasses and dandelions. In the winter those kinds of food are not available so therefore, it feed on buds, twigs and bark from trees such as willow, birch and maple. They also eat during the winter needles of coniferous trees such as white pine, cedar and spruce. The snowshoe hare is a herbivore as you can clearly see from its diet.
Biome/Habitat:
The snowshoe hare can only be found in North America and is usually found in the Boreal Forest.
Adaptations
- The snowshoe hare has big furry paws to allow the hare to move smoothly and quickly over the snow. In soft snow the four long toes of each paw are spread out widely, making the paws even bigger so that it does not sink into the snow and make the hare lose time while escaping a predator.
- The very furry paws of the hare also makes the paw prints in the snow in the winter very fuzzy which gives hunters the impression that the hare was there a while ago than maybe just a few seconds.
- The snowshoe hare changes its fur according to the season. Its fur changes to a greyish brown in the summer and almost pure white in the mid-winter. This change happens twice every year and is done by shedding and re-growing of the fur. It takes about 10 weeks but when it is done, it allows the snowshoe hare for a very good camouflage for the rest of the season.
- The big ears of a snowshoe hare allows it, like any other rabbits and hares, to have good hearing so that it can hear predators from far away as well as keeping its body temperature normal.
- Snowshoe hares have strong front teeth to help them chew bark and twigs.
- The strong hind paws of the snowshoe hare allows it to stand up to reach food in high places, allowing it more food resources.
- In the night, the snowshoe hare still can find food and shelter because of their good nose and long whiskers. The whiskers are like hands used to feel since the hare cannot use its paws for feeling in the dark.
Weaknesses
- The snowshoe hare suffers from many diseases such as viral and bacterial diseases.
- Snowshoe hares are also the prey of many carnivorous animals such as the lynx, the red fox and the great horned owl.
- When a snowshoe hare is in its first year, it only has 3 to 40 percent chance of surviving while an adult hare might have 12 to 50 percent chance.
- The snowshoe hare is sometime hunted in certain parts of North America by humans which makes it have a very powerful predator.
- The snowshoe hare¡¯s ears can make the hare lose a lot of heat, especially during the cold days.
- A very sudden change of weather or temperature could affect a snowshoe hare because if the change happens within about 10 weeks, the hare will not be able to shed and re-grow its fur fast enough to blend in with the habitat.
Did You Know???
- Snowshoe hares in warm places where there isn¡¯t snow stays brownish grey all year.
- Snowshoe hares sometimes damage or destroy new forests because they feed on the young trees. But they sometimes are beneficial in natural forests because they keep young trees to a small number so that the saplings that survived can have more space and better nutrition to grow.
|
