hares
As a young teenager deer hunting with my father, I had the unusual experience of encountering a pair of “Snowshoe Hares” in the forest. For those who haven’t heard of “Snowshoe” Hares, they are large rabbit-like creatures that live in Northern arctic and sub-arctic climes. Only the Northern one-third of my home state of Minnesota has wild Snowshoe Hares.
The weak link in the camouflage of the Snowshoe Hare
Normally, I wouldn’t have seen these not-so-rare creatures because they are well-camouflaged. In the summer, they are grey-brown and in the winter they are stark white. As soon as the snow flies in the fall, their hair turns to white so as to conceal them from predators. The white color makes them hard to see against the white snow.
Well this particular fall, there had been six or eight inches or snow and then a quick thaw, which melted all the snow, so the ground was the dirty brown grey of a Winter with no snow.
The Hares were still white, however. Continue reading
