Arctic Hare

The Arctic Hare:

The Arcitc Hare live in the Arctic tundra mostly in Northern Canada and Greenland. They do not hibernate during the long, cold winters but survive them. To do this they have very thick fur and a low surface area: volume ratio to minimise heat loss. The best example of this is their ears; they are much shorter than the ears of a normal hare. An example of behavioural adaptation is that they dig holes under the ground and huddle together for warmth. Like normal hares they have long strong back legs which make them extremely fast and can reach speeds of 40mph!! Along with their fast legs another adaptation to survive the preadators of the arctic is that they have a fully white coat which gives excellent camouflage against the snowy white landscape protecting them from said predators such as wolfs, foxes and bears. Even more amazingly their fur changes colour in the spring to a blue-grey which is the same as the surrounding rocks colours. The hares give birth in the early spring which gives the new born hares plenty of time to grow before the harsh and deadly winter closes in again. With food being scarce in the Arctic the hare survives by eating things such as woody plants, mosses and lichens in the winter, and buds, berries, leaves, roots and even bark in other seasons so they can build up energy to survive in the winter.  To gather enough energy also the hare cannot afford to be picky with what it eats and therefore it has adapted to become an omnivore eating both plants and when it can find some animals.