Snowshoe Hare
Scientific Name: Lepus americanus
Male snowshoe hare are slightly smaller than the females. They both have fur that changes color with the seasons. In the summer, their coat is a grayish rusty brown, with a more grayish black to their backs. They have a white underbelly, and their face and legs are cinnamon brown. Their ears are brown with black tips and a white border. In the winter, their fur transitions to nearly all white, except for their eyes, nose, and some brownish black on their ears.
Adult size: 16.2 to 20.4 in
Weight: 3.1 to 3.4 lbs
Life span: Many snowshoe hare do not live longer than one year, but they can live up to 5 years in the wild.
Maturity: 1 year
Litter size: 1 to 7
Fun Fact
As their name suggests, they have exceptionally large back feet that are lined with fur. Their large feet allow them to quickly move across the snow, like how snowshoes prevent humans from sinking into the snow. Their furry feet keep them nice and warm!
Diet
Snowshoe hare eat a variety of vegetation including grasses, forbs, clovers, horsetails, and asters etc. Like most rabbits and hares, they will switch to more woody material in the winter months. They will forage on buds, twigs, bark, and evergreens. Often, they will re-ingest their feces to extract all the available nutrients.
Habitat
Snowshoe hare live in open fields, swamps, bogs, thickets, and coniferous lowland forests.
Behavior
Snowshoe Hare are mostly solitary, but often overlap home ranges with other individuals. They are most active during dawn and dusk, as well as throughout the night. During they daylight hours they spend a lot of time grooming and napping. In the summer they take “dust baths” to help remove ectoparasites from their fur.
They are also quite good at swimming and have been seen entering the water to avoid predation. Snowshoe hare have great hearing but are not particularly vocal. Like other rabbits and hares they will make noise when captured and thump their feet on the ground to warn others of danger.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Snowshoe hares are polygynandrous, meaning both males and females seek out multiple mates during the breeding season. Males will congregate around females in their home ranges when the females are in estrus. Their breeding season goes from March to August. The gestation period lasts around 36 days, in which the female becomes aggressive and intolerant of males as birth approaches. The female will prepare an area with grass for birthing.
Females are polyestrous, meaning they can give birth to multiple litters per year. Young are born precocial, meaning they are fully furred and able to move. They are weaned and disperse about four weeks after they are born.
Population Status
Snowshoe Hares are common throughout their range and are listed as of “least concern” on the IUCN Red List.
Viewing
The best place to see snowshoe hare in New York is within the blue line of the Adirondack Park. There have been limited observations in the Catskills as well. They are mostly seen in conifer and mixed woods forests with abundant understories.
Range
Snowshoe hare are found throughout Canada, and in the northern most portions of the United States. Populations in New York are mostly limited to the Adirondacks.
