the.com/snowshoe hare
A hare that swaps wardrobes with the seasons so foxes have to actually try.
means A northern hare with huge furry hind feet that act like natural snowshoes, and a coat that turns from brown in summer to white in winter for camouflage.
from The name is purely descriptive, dating to the era when English-speaking settlers and naturalists in North America were cataloguing the continent's wildlife: the hare's oversized, densely-furred hind feet spread its weight across snow much like the wooden snowshoes used by trappers and indigenous peoples of the boreal north, so the comparison was an obvious, practical one rather than a fanciful stretch.
- color switch
- brown in summer, white in winter, triggered by daylight not temperature
- climate mismatch risk
- warming shortens snow season, leaving white hares exposed on brown ground
- feet
- huge furred hind feet act like built-in snowshoes
- prey status
- main food source for lynx, population cycles track each other closely