Snowshoe hare

Appearance

For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round. The snowshoe hare is also distinguishable by the black tufts of fur on the edge of its ears. Its ears are shorter than those of most other hares.

Distribution

Snowshoe hares occur from Newfoundland east to western Alaska; south in the Sierra Nevada to central California; in the Rocky Mountains to southern Utah and northern New Mexico; and in the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee. Locations of subspecies are as follows:

⤷ "Lepus americanus americanus" – Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana, and North Dakota
⤷ "L. a. cascadensis" – British Columbia and Washington
⤷ "L. a. columbiensis" – British Columbia, Alberta, and Washington
⤷ "L. a. dalli" – Mackenzie District, British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon Territory
⤷ "L. a. klamathensis" – Oregon and California
⤷ "L. a. oregonus" – Oregon
⤷ "L. a. pallidus" – British Columbia
⤷ "L. a. phaeonotus" – Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota
⤷ "L. a. pineus" – British Columbia, Idaho, and Washington
⤷ "L. a. seclusus" – Wyoming
⤷ "L. a. struthopus" – Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Maine
⤷ "L. a. tahoensis" – California, western Nevada
⤷ "L. a. virginianus" – Ontario, Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee
⤷ "L. a. washingtonii" – British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon

Habitat

Major variables in habitat quality include average visual obstruction and browse biomass. Snowshoe hares prefer young forests with abundant understories. The presence of cover is the primary determinant of habitat quality, and is more significant than food availability or species composition. Species composition does, however, influence population density; dense softwood understories support greater snowshoe hare density than hardwoods because of cover quality. In Maine, female snowshoe hares were observed to be more common on sites with less cover but more nutritious forage; males tended to be found on sites with heavier cover.

Winter browse availability depends on height of understory brush and winter snow depth; 6-to-8-foot-tall saplings with narrow stem diameters are required for winter browse in heavy snow.

In northern regions, snowshoe hares occupy conifer and mixed forests in all stages of succession, but early successional forests foster peak abundance. Deciduous forests are usually occupied only in early stages of succession. In New England, snowshoe hares preferred second-growth deciduous, coniferous, and mixed woods with dense brushy understories; they appear to prefer shrubby old-field areas, early- to mid-successional burns, shrub-swamps, bogs, and upper montane krumholz vegetation. In Maine, snowshoe hares were more active in clearcut areas than in partially cut or uncut areas. Sapling densities were highest on 12- to 15-year-old plots; these plots were used more than younger stands. In northern Utah, they occupied all the later stages of succession on quaking aspen and spruce-fir, but were not observed in meadows. In Alberta, snowshoe hares use upland shrub-sapling stages of regenerating aspens. In British Columbia overstocked juvenile lodgepole pine stands formed optimal snowshoe hare habitat.

In western Washington, most unburned, burned, or scarified clearcuts will normally be fully occupied by snowshoe hares within four to five years, as vegetation becomes dense. In older stands, stem density begins to decline and cover for snowshoe hares decreases. However, in north-central Washington, they may not
colonize clearcuts until six or seven years, and it may take 20 to 25 years for their density to reach maximum. Winter snowshoe hare pellet counts were highest in 20-year-old lodgepole pine stands, lower in older lodgepole stands, and lowest in spruce-dominated stands. In western Oregon, snowshoe hares were abundant only in early successional stages, including stable brushfields. In west-central Oregon, an old-growth Douglas-fir forest was clearcut and monitored through 10 years of succession. A few snowshoe hares were noted in adjacent virgin forest plots; they represented widely scattered, sparse populations. One snowshoe hare was observed on the disturbed plot 2.5 years after it had been clearcut and burned; at this stage, ground cover was similar to that of the uncut forest. By 9 years after disturbance, snowshoe hare density had increased markedly.

In western Washington, snowshoe hares routinely used steep slopes where cover was adequate; most studies, however, suggest they tend to prefer gentle slopes. Moonlight increases snowshoe hare vulnerability to predation, particularly in winter. They tend to avoid open areas during bright phases of the moon and during bright periods of a single night. Their activity usually shifts from coniferous understories in winter to hardwood understories in summer.

Vegetative structure plays an important role in the size of snowshoe hare home ranges. Snowshoe hares wander up to 5 miles when food is scarce. In Montana home ranges are smaller in brushy woods than in open woods. In Colorado and Utah, the average home range of both sexes was 20 acres. On Montreal Island of Quebec, the average daily range for both sexes was 4 acres in old-field mixed woods. In Montana, the home range averaged 25 acres for males and 19 acres for females. In Oregon the average snowshoe hare home range was 14.6 acres.

Reproduction

The snowshoe hare may have up to four litters in a year which average three to eight young. Males compete for females, and females may breed with several males.

Food

Snowshoe hares eat a variety of plant materials. Forage type varies with season. Succulent green vegetation is consumed when available from spring to fall; after the first frost, buds, twigs, evergreen needles, and bark form the bulk of snowshoe hare diets until spring greenup. Snowshoe hares typically feed at night and follow well-worn forest paths to feed on various plants and trees.

In summer, it feeds on plants such as, grass, ferns and leaves; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and buds from flowers and plants and, similar to the Arctic hare, has been known to steal meat from baited traps. Hares are cannibalistic under the availability of dead animals, and have been known to eat dead rodents such as mice due to low availability of protein in an herbivorous diet. It can sometimes be seen feeding in small groups. This animal is mainly active at night and does not hibernate.

Predators

The snowshoe hare is a major prey item for a number of predators. Major predators include Canada lynx, bobcats, fishers, American martens, long-tailed weasels, minks, foxes, coyote, domestic dogs, domestic cats, wolves, mountain lions, great horned owls, barred owls, spotted owls, other owls, red-tailed hawks, northern goshawks, other hawks, golden eagles, and crows and ravens. Other predators include black bears. In Glacier National Park snowshoe hares are a prey item of Rocky Mountain wolves.