constrained by the number of hours that they can feed and by the amount of food they can These wide feet help the hare to manoeuvre in the deep snow acting as snowshoes. Range: The snowshoe hare is found in every province and territory in Canada. Credit: Katherine Zarn. (G.A. Throughout their range, hares are important in the diets of various carnivorous birds, mammals, and reptiles. When hares are plentiful, lynx eat little else and take about two hares every three days. The hare is an important prey species, especially to the Lynx. This particular Hare offers very long fur and it has a round body. Photograph by Robert Harding, World Imagery/Corbis The color-changing North American animals … Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Why Snowshoe Poles Are Important. The snowshoe hare virus is the most widely occurring arbovirus in Canada and is maintained in an amplification cycle involving small mammals, such as snowshoe hares, and mosquitoes, primarily of the Aedes genus. Canadian Wildlife Service Web Site:  http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/, Learn more about the Foraging Ecology Class by visiting. When the seasons change to spring and summer, snowshoe hares turn a … The Canada Lynx ensures the snowshoe hare population does not exceed it's biotic potential and indirectly makes sure the producers (grass, other plants) do not have a shortage (from over consumption due to excessive snowshoe hares). Sinclair. Snowshoe Hare. Records of Canada lynx populations have been kept since the 1730s, thanks to the Hudson’s Bay Company. 2001. What drives the 10-year Lynx prey upon mice, voles, squirrels, grouse, ptarmigan and carrion when hares are scarce. beneficial plants and plant parts is equally as key to hare survival and persistence in Feldhamer and B. Thompson, eds.) Every 10 years snowshoe hare populations across the boreal forest of North America go through a population cycle, culminating in a decline lasting 4 or more years. 8. ( 1939 ) that shock disease caused hare declines (Chitty, 1959 ). Important predators of snowshoe hares include gray foxes, red foxes, coyotes, wolves, lynx, bobcats and mink. study showed that hares contained the same muscle mass in the winter as they did in the Bioscience 51:25-35. Vegetation & Ecosystem Management, One additional With such an exclusive diet, the two populations exist in synchronicity with one another. difficult at best, hares have "solved" this foraging problem. First, like its name suggests, it has snowshoes as feet. It is important to note that in the two regions with fences, the fences were permeable to snowshoe hares, and that predation from avian predators was not restricted. It's important to note, even if they were to notice the spring coming earlier, individual hares don't seem to have the ability to alter their coat-change timing. The layers of … Murray, D.L. The snowshoe hare changes colour with the seasons, the white fur turning reddish or grayish brown for the summer. Researchers have noticed an exceptional number of white snowshoe hares on brown earth. Snowshoe Hares are nocturnal, staying near thickets during the day and coming out to eat in the evening. Although commonly known in Newfoundland as “rabbits”, they are actually hares. Our results add to a growing literature showing that factors outside of structural metrics of area and isolation are important drivers of occupancy dynamics. tract can They gain their curious name from their very large hind feet that are lined with stiff hairs that form a snowshoe, supporting their weight on the surface of the snow. He and his buddies actually target the oversized hares with archery tackle, which means he needs to have a clear understanding of escape routes and travel patterns. Bill Marchel is a Brainerd, Minnesota, resident, wildlife photographer, and snowshoe fanatic. summer. 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