Climate Change Robbing Hares of Their Best Defense
- 11 years ago
Climate change has made the snowshoe hare even more vulnerable to predators, leaving their seasonal coats mismatched with their environments.
What do you do when you’re one of the forest’s most sought-after snacks?
If you’re a snowshoe hare, you develop a nifty trick where your coat changes color seasonally to blend in with your surroundings.
Unfortunately, with changing weather patterns, the camouflage trick doesn’t work quite as well.
Now, the bunnies are in a predicament where sometimes they’re left with brown coats in a sparkly white snow-covered forest or vice versa, a phenomenon they call “mismatch”
When the snow melts early or comes late their bright white fur stands out like a lit-up fast food sign against a wooded backdrop.
The worst part is that the rabbits don’t know that, so they go hopping around like it’s business as usual.
Their already vulnerable existence becomes even more so.
Environmental scientists from the University of Montana are currently in the midst of an extensive study to determine what the impact will be on the hares over time.
So far, it’s not looking good.
Among the hares they’ve tracked, the researchers have learned that most only live about a year, with the mismatched hares dying at a higher rate thanks to one of their most significant defense mechanisms being compromised.
What do you do when you’re one of the forest’s most sought-after snacks?
If you’re a snowshoe hare, you develop a nifty trick where your coat changes color seasonally to blend in with your surroundings.
Unfortunately, with changing weather patterns, the camouflage trick doesn’t work quite as well.
Now, the bunnies are in a predicament where sometimes they’re left with brown coats in a sparkly white snow-covered forest or vice versa, a phenomenon they call “mismatch”
When the snow melts early or comes late their bright white fur stands out like a lit-up fast food sign against a wooded backdrop.
The worst part is that the rabbits don’t know that, so they go hopping around like it’s business as usual.
Their already vulnerable existence becomes even more so.
Environmental scientists from the University of Montana are currently in the midst of an extensive study to determine what the impact will be on the hares over time.
So far, it’s not looking good.
Among the hares they’ve tracked, the researchers have learned that most only live about a year, with the mismatched hares dying at a higher rate thanks to one of their most significant defense mechanisms being compromised.