Organism
Snowshoe Hare
TL;DR
The snowshoe hare cycles with remarkable 9-10 year periodicity in the Canadian boreal forest, documented through nearly a century of Hudson's Bay Company fur trading records.
The snowshoe hare cycles with remarkable 9-10 year periodicity in the Canadian boreal forest, documented through nearly a century of Hudson's Bay Company fur trading records. These population cycles, driven by lynx predation and food availability, represent one of the best-documented predator-prey systems in ecology.
Hare populations demonstrate prey dynamics: rapid reproduction when predator pressure is low, population crashes when predators become abundant, and recovery when predator populations decline following prey scarcity.
Notable Traits of Snowshoe Hare
- 10-year population cycle
- Primary prey of Canada lynx
- Seasonal coat color change