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Snowshoe Hare Facts
Hares and Rabbits are mammals, just like the rest of the animals that crawled into the mitten. Mammals are warm-blooded. They can live and stay warm in cold places. What makes mammals different from other animals? For one thing, they have fur or hair. This helps keep them warm. They also take even better care of their young than birds can, because they feed their young with milk. Mammals have large brain sizes compared to their bodies, and they have strong teeth. They are very good at surviving on the earth.
What do rabbits eat? Only
Vegetables
Average lifespan in the
wild: 1 year or less
Size: 16 to 20 inches
(larger than a guinea pig, smaller than a cat!)
Weight: 2 to 4 lbs (about
the size of a good roasting chicken!
Size relative to a 6 ft man
Where do they
live? Snowshoe hares
live in the forest. They like the thick cover of brushy undergrowth.
They live mostly in the northern states but can be found in our home
state of Virginia. What do they look like? Hares are a bit larger than rabbits, and they have taller back legs and longer ears. Snowshoe hares have especially large, furry feet that help them to move on top of the cold snow in the winter. They also have a snow-white winter coat that turns brown when the snow melts each spring. It takes about ten weeks for their fur to completely change color. Behaviors: Snowshoe hares
eat at night when they hope all the other animals are asleep!
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