The Arctic hare is a species of hare which is highly adapted to living in the Arctictundra, and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It usually digs holes in the ground or under snow to keep warm and to sleep. Arctic hares look like rabbits but have shorter ears, are taller when standing and, unlike rabbits, can thrive in extreme cold. They can travel together with many other hares, sometimes huddling with dozens or more, but are usually found alone, sometimes taking more than one partner. The Arctic hare can run up to.
The Arctic hare is one of the largest living lagomorphs. Typically, this species measures from long, not counting a tail length of. The body mass of this species is typically between, though large individuals can weigh up to.
Distribution and habitat
The Arctic hare is distributed over the northernmost regions of Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands and Northern Canada, including Ellesmere Island, and farther south in Labrador and Newfoundland. The Arctic hare is well adapted to conditions found in the tundras, plateaus and treeless coasts of this region, including cold weather and frozen precipitation. The Arctic hare may be found at elevations from sea level to 900 m. In Newfoundland and southern Labrador, the Arctic hare changes its coat color, moulting and growing new fur, from brown or grey in the summer to white in the winter, like some other Arctic animals including ermine and ptarmigan, enabling it to remain camouflaged as the environment changes. However, the Arctic hares in the far north of Canada, where summer is very short, remain white all year round.
Feeding
The Arctic hare is a herbivore, specifically a folivore. Arctic hares feed primarily on woody plants, and willow constitutes 95 percent of their diet year-round. Arctic hares predominantly consume saxifrage, crowberry, and dwarf willow, but can also eat a variety of other foods, including lichens and mosses, blooms, other species' leaves, twigs and roots, mountain sorrel and macroalgae. Arctic hare diets are more diverse in summer, but still primarily willow, dryas and grasses. Arctic hares have been reported to occasionally eat meat, including fish and the stomach contents of eviscerated caribou. They eat snow to get water.
Reproduction and lifespan
Hares can have up to eight babies, called leverets. The leverets stay within the mother's home range until they can survive on their own. There is little information on the lifespan of Arctic hares. Some anecdotal evidence suggests they live three to five years in the wild. Arctic hares do not fare well in captivity, living only a year and a half at most.
Predators
Known predators of the Arctic hare are the Arctic fox, Red fox, Wolf, Mountain lion, Lynx, Ermine, Snowy owl, Gyrfalcon, Rough-legged hawk and occasionally humans. The Arctic wolf is probably the most successful predator of the Arctic hare, and even young wolves in their first autumn can catch adult hares. Arctic foxes and ermines, which are smaller, typically prey on young hares. Gyrfalcon carry hares to their nests, cutting them in half first; gyrfalcons use hare bones and feet in the structure of their nests on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. Peregrine falcons also prey on Arctic hares in the southern end of the hares' range. The Snowy owls mainly targets young hare; the French common name of the species derives from Anglo-Saxonharfang. Four groups of parasites have been known to use Arctic hares as a host: protozoans ; nematodes ; lice and fleas (including Hoplopsyllus glacialis, Euhoplopsyllus glacialis, and Megabothris groenlandicus. Fleas are more common than parasitic worms.
