Arctic hares are nocturnal, although during the winter months, they rest more sporadically throughout the day. Arctic hare are generally solitary outside of mating season, but they have been known to gather in groups of 100 or more. While hare in these groups rest, one individual remains awake to guard the herd. As pairs of Arctic hare form during mating season, large groups are much less common. Arctic hares communicate with each other via snapping, boxing, scratching, and laying their ears back. Male and female arctic hares show affection by licking or scratching.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical
Arctic hare are considered to be at low risk and of least concern by the IUCN Red List.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
There are no known adverse effects of Arctic hare on humans.
Arctic hare are a source of both clothing and food for the native people of the Arctic. Eskimos use the absorbent fur to make gloves and hats, bandages and feminine supplies. The skin is used for blankets, stockings, and pants, although it is thin and tears easily. Eskimos utilize pelts to make towels, and in some cases, to plug rifle barrels. Arctic hare are also a food source to Eskimos, who utilize every part of the animal except the intestines. The white flesh is usually lean and full-flavored, though additional fat is often added to provide more flavor. The quality and taste of the flesh varies with age, sex, and season. During mating season, for example, males are nearly inedible. Arctic hare are quite thin during the winter, providing less meat. The ear cartilage is considered a delicacy. Eskimos often break the hind leg bones and suck out the bone marrow. They may also chew the milk glands and consume the milk within as a remedy for nausea.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material; source of medicine or drug
Arctic hare disperse seeds, which they eat. They also compete for food resources with two other herbivores in their geographic range, muskoxen and caribou, which eat many of the same things. There are four known groups of parasites that use Arctic hares as a host. These parasites are: protozoans, including Eimeria exigua, E. magna, E. perforans, and E. sculpta; nematodes, including Filaria and Oxyuris ambigua; lice, including Haemodipsus lyriocephalus and H. setoni; and most commonly fleas, including Hoplopsyllus glacialis, Euhoplopsyllus glacialis, and Megabothris groenlandicus.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Arctic hares feed primarily on woody plants such as saxifrage, crowberry, and dwarf willow. Willow constitutes 95% of their diet in every season. During the summer, their diet is more diverse but still primarily consists of willow, dryas and grasses. Arctic hare can eat a wide variety of other food sources, including lichens and mosses, blooms, leaves, twigs and roots, mountain sorrel and macroalgae (seaweed). On occasion, Arctic hare eat meat, including fish and the stomach contents of eviscerated caribou. Arctic hare eat snow to obtain water.
Plant Foods: leaves; roots and tubers; wood, bark, or stems; fruit; flowers; bryophytes; lichens; macroalgae
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore )
Arctic hare, Lepus arcticus, are found in the northernmost regions of Greenland, the Arctic Islands and Canada, including Ellesmere Island and further south in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Arctic hare, which are well adapted to cold weather and frozen precipitation, are found in mountainous tundras, rocky plateaus and treeless coasts. In these locations, the average daily temperature from March to November is -26.9 degrees Celsius, and average snowfall is 37.5 cm. Arctic hare can be found at elevations between 0 and 900 km.
Range elevation: 0 to 900 km.
Habitat Regions: polar ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: tundra ; mountains
Aquatic Biomes: coastal
Little information is available regarding the longevity of Arctic hare, though anecdotal evidence suggests they live 3 to 5 years. Arctic hare do not survive well in captivity.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 1.5 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 3 to 5 years.
Arctic hare have large, heavily padded feet with strong front and hind claws and are larger than other species of hare. An adult ranges from 3 to 5 kg in mass and from 480 to 600 mm in length. On average, they measure 558 mm in length. Year-round, Arctic hare have thick, gray fur on their chest and underbelly. However, the color of the rest of their coat changes seasonally. During the winter season, their coat is long, thick, soft and white and their ears are black-tipped. Throughout the summer, their coat molts to a brownish-gray or gray-blue color. Their face and feet are the first to molt, followed by the ears, shoulders, legs, and backside. Females undergo this change earlier than males. At birth, Arctic hare are gray and weigh an average of 105 g. Their fur changes to white during their first winter, and the tips of their ears become grayer. During the summer months, the fur of young Arctic hare contains more black than the fur of adults.
Range mass: 3 to 5 kg.
Range length: 480 to 600 mm.
Average length: 558 mm.
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.36 cm3.O2/g/hr.
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Arctic hare are well adapted to avoid predators. During the winter, their white fur blends in with snow and acts as camouflage. During the spring and summer, their fur is a brownish-gray, which also blends in with the ground and surrounding habitat. A few days after birth, young Arctic hare are able to defend themselves by hiding or remaining motionless. As they mature, they become incredibly agile and can reach speeds of 64 km/h, allowing them to outrun predators. Young arctic hare are more likely to fall prey than adults. Predators of Arctic hare include Arctic foxes, red foxes, gray wolves, Canada lynx, ermines, snowy owls, gyrfalcons, and rough-legged hawks. Humans also capture Arctic hare for food and materials.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Arctic hare find a new mate during each breeding season. Males attract females by physical contact, such as scratching and licking and a male follows the female until mating occurs. Males can be fairly aggressive during copulation and may bite a female's neck, drawing blood. Until offspring are born, a mating pair remains together, often settling away from other hares. Upon birth, males typically leave their partner to find another mate.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Arctic hare typical mate in April or May. Females have, on average, 1 litter per year but can have 2 litters. Litters range in size from 2 to 8 offspring, unlike other members of the genus g. Lepus, of which the litters range from 1 to 4 offspring. The gestation period of Arctic hare is approximately 50 days, and offspring are usually born in May or June. Arctic hare weigh on average 105 g at birth. Juveniles become mostly independent after 2 to 3 weeks, but remain close to their mother until weaning occurs at 8 or 9 weeks after birth. Arctic hares reach sexually maturity at approximately 315 days of age, meaning hares are able to breed the spring directly following their birth.
Breeding interval: Arctic hare typically breed once a year but may breed twice in one season.
Breeding season: The breeding season of Arctic hare spans April to September.
Range number of offspring: 2 to 8.
Average number of offspring: 5.8.
Average gestation period: 50 days.
Range weaning age: 8 to 9 weeks.
Range time to independence: 2 to 3 weeks.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 315 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 315 days.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual
Male Arctic hare may remain near the nest for a few days after birth of their offspring but are otherwise absent. For the first 2 to 3 days after giving birth, females do not leave sight of her offspring so as to protect and defend the nest. After 3 days, young Arctic hare are able to protect themselves by hiding or remaining very still. Females nurse their young every 18 to 20 hours, and young are weaned at 8 to 9 weeks of age. As juveniles mature, they spend a decreasing amount of time with their mother.
Parental Investment: female parental care ; pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Protecting: Female); post-independence association with parents
The Arctic hare[2] (Lepus arcticus) is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It usually digs holes in the ground or under the 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 60 kilometres per hour (40 mph).[3]
Arctic explorer John Ross described the Arctic hare in 1819.[1]
The Arctic hare is one of the largest living lagomorphs. Typically, this species measures from 43 to 70 cm (17 to 28 in) long, not counting a tail length of 4.5 to 10 cm (1.8 to 3.9 in). The body mass of this species is typically between 2.5–5.5 kg (6–12 lb), though large individuals can weigh up to 7 kg (15 lb).[4]
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.[5] 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 (3,000 ft).[5][6]
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. This seasonal moulting also enables other Arctic animals, including ermine and ptarmigan, to remain camouflaged as the environment changes.[7] However, the Arctic hares in the far north of Canada, where summer is very short, remain white all year round.[7]
The Arctic hare is a herbivore, specifically a folivore.[8] Arctic hares feed primarily on woody plants, with arctic willow constituting 95% of their diet year-round.[8] 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 (seaweed).[8][9] Arctic hare diets are more diverse in summer.[10] Although previously believed to still be primarily willow, dryas, and grasses, recent studies show that their diet becomes dominated by legumes, constituting 70% of their diet in the summer.[8][10] Arctic hares have been reported to occasionally eat meat, including fish and the stomach contents of eviscerated caribou.[8] They eat snow to get water.[8]
The Arctic hare has many physiological features that are adaptive to its extreme environment. Despite a 17% - 38% lower than expected basal metabolic rate, the Arctic hare is able to maintain a body temperature comparable to other lagomorphs (38.9 degrees C) because of its low surface area to volume ratio and high insulation.[11][9][12] The lowered metabolic rate also allows the Arctic hare to save energy, making it adaptive for its cold and barren habitat.[11][9][12] In addition, the Arctic hare has high locomotive efficiency combined with long periods of resting and shorter bouts of foraging which enables it to conserve energy and survive on its low diet intake.[13]
The white fur of Arctic hares, in addition to their camouflage benefits in the winter, have a high reflectance which may prevent excessive heat gain during the day.[9][12] Behaviorally, the Arctic hare keeps warm in winter using body orientation, posture, and seeking or digging shelter.[14] When resting, Arctic hares maintain a nearly spherical shape and typically stay in groups, but do not huddle.[14] If the rabbits are solitary, they often rest in the shelter of large rocks protecting them from the wind and staying out of sight of predators.[14][9][13][12] In addition to rocks, Arctic hares also find shelter in other natural shelters such as snowdrifts, man-made structures, and even digging their own burrows in snowdrifts up to 188 cm in length.[14]
The body size of Arctic hares is often significantly less in the winter compared to the summer, likely caused by decreased food quality and availability in addition to a decreased metabolic rate.[9][12] Arctic hare body mass might also be affected by ambient temperature. At lower latitudes it was found that Arctic hares in Greenland exhibited larger body size with increased temperature, possibly caused by increased energy availability to contribute to body size and increased food plant availability.[15] The opposite is true at higher latitudes in which Arctic hares had smaller body sizes with increased temperature.[15] This trend is again linked to food plant availability.[15] In this case, decreased precipitation and increased temperatures in the higher latitudes of Greenland result in a lower food plant availability to contribute to body mass.[15]
Breeding season occurs around April or May.[9][16] Gestation period of the Arctic hare is 53 days, so the babies are born around May, June, or July.[9][16] Hares can have up to eight babies (average litter size 5.4), called leverets.[9][16] The leverets stay within the mother's home range until they can survive on their own.[17] Young Arctic hares are almost full size by late July (some weeks after birth) and breed for the first time after a year of age.[16]
There is little information on the lifespan of Arctic hares. Some anecdotal evidence suggests they live three to five years in the wild.[8] Arctic hares do not fare well in captivity, living only a year and a half at most.[8]
Known predators of the Arctic hare are the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Wolf (Canis lupus), Lynx (Lynx canadensis), Ermine (Mustela erminea), Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), Rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus) – and occasionally humans.[5]
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.[18] Arctic foxes and ermines, which are smaller, typically prey on young hares.[18] 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.[18] Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) also prey on Arctic hares in the southern end of the hares' range.[18] The snowy owls mainly target young hares; the French common name of the species derives from Anglo-Saxon harfang ("hare-catcher").[18]
Four groups of parasites have been known to use Arctic hares as a host: protozoans (Eimeria exigua, Eimeria magna, Eimeria perforans, and Eimeria sculpta); nematodes (including Filaria and Oxyuris ambigua); lice (including Haemodipsus lyriocephalus and Haemodipsus setoni) and fleas (including Hoplopsyllus glacialis, Euhoplopsyllus glacialis, and Megabothris groenlandicus.[5] Fleas are more common than parasitic worms.[5][18]
There are four subspecies of this hare:
The Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It usually digs holes in the ground or under the 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 60 kilometres per hour (40 mph).
