Arctic Hare

Lepus arcticus

The Arctic Hare is a furry mammal with a round body and short pointed ears. When a well fed Arctic Hare nestles down for a rest to conserve heat it tucks in its ears, tail, and front legs to form an almost perfect sphere. On the tundra where Arctic Hares live together in large groups, they look like hundreds of large snowballs on the ground. When they energetically hop and run Arctic Hares look like snowballs popping up and down like popcorn on the snowy winter tundra. In the Arctic the local name for an Arctic Hare is Ukaliq pronounced ook-ah-lick.

Characteristics

Arctic Hares are very large hares when compared to other members of the lepus family like the Snowshoe Hare. The average adult Arctic Hare is about 4-5 kg (9-11 pounds) and is about 58cm (23 inches) long from nose to tail. They have two big powerful hind feet and two smaller front feet. They have short ears to minimize heat loss…

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