Habitat: In the vicinity of streams or in conifer forests in the Canadian and Hudsonian Life Zones.
Description: A small, chunky hare with medium long ears and large hairy hind feet. An average individual will have a total length of about 18 inches with a tail less than 2 inches. Hind foot about 6 inches in length. Summer pelage brown, except feet and belly white, and tail brownish black above. Winter coat white except for the tips of the ears which are black. Young, three to six, born in May or June.
The snowshoe hare, found sparingly in mountains of the Southwest, is the same as that which lives in the muskeg not far from the Arctic Circle. The climate of the mountain zones is surprisingly like that of the north country even though the terrain is different. The closest equivalent is to be found in the brushy borders of mountain streams, and here the “snowshoes” are most often found. During summer they feed on grasses, herbs, and leaves of many different shrubs and the tender tips of young branches. Winter, a period of famine for many animals, is just the opposite for these large-footed hares. Able to run about on the surface of snowdrifts, each new snowfall lifts them closer to the tender twigs that earlier in the year were far above their reach. Clean diagonal cuts much like those made with a knife mark their depredations and, since they are hearty eaters, the whole tops of many favorite food shrubs may be pruned out in one season.
In common with several other hunted creatures and a comparatively few that hunt, the “snowshoe” undergoes a complete change of color between its summer and winter coat. The transformation begins when the first snows are due, and usually the white coat is complete when the snows lie deep on the mountains. It is not, as was once supposed, a case of the brown guard hairs turning white, but a molt. The summer guard hairs are shed and white ones taken their place. The under fur changes color to a less marked degree. Close to the skin the animal is still brown. Outwardly it is pure white except for black ear tips. Marvelous as this protective coloration is, it is not absolute proof against enemies. There are many, and chief among them are lynxes, bobcats, wolves, weasels, and great horned owls. In many places in the far north the snowshoe hare is the chief host of the lynx, their numbers fluctuating in unison.
snowshoe hare
Like most other hares the “snowshoe” spends a great share of its leisure time in a “form.” This is usually nothing more than a well concealed hollow. The semi-darkness under low hanging evergreens is much favored by these nocturnal animals for this purpose. They do not, at any time, frequent burrows, the closest approach to this kind of home being in winter when they are sometimes completely snowed under. They suffer but little during severe storms, because their long, fluffy fur is protection against the cold. Their greatest danger lies in the possibility of being buried alive in the event of a freezing rain following the snow.
The young are born in late spring or early summer. They come into the world amid plushy surroundings indeed. The mother has lined the surface nest with soft hair pulled from her own coat, and a softer, more comfortable nursery could hardly be imagined. The little hares are born fully furred, with eyes open, and usually with the incisor teeth already through the gums. Their development is rapid, and long before cold weather arrives they are out on their own.
White-tailed jackrabbit
Lepus townsendi (Latin: hare ... for J. K. Townsend)
Range: North of the Canadian border to the southern portion of Colorado and Utah, and from the Cascade Mountains east to the Mississippi River.