The Snowshoe Hare found in the young forests of New York State change colors to match the seasons. Brown in the Summer and white in the Winter. What happens with there is little to no snow? The winter time still dictates the white color, except for, the tips of the ears are always black no matter the season.
If there is a winter with little to no snow or an early melt, the danger increases as prey to other animals, even humans.
July 17, 2014
By Emma Marris
There's something odd (click here) about a bright white snowshoe hare motionless and alert—without any hint of snow nearby.
Gleaming white on a brown background of dirt and leaves, the hares, which are native to the mountain ranges of North America, might as well be wearing an "eat me" sign for lynx and other predators.
Scott Mills and Marketa Zimova of North Carolina State University call this "mismatch"—when the hare, which turns from brown to white as the fall becomes winter and back again in spring, doesn't match its background.
Usually, hares seem to time their color change pretty well. Now the average hare is mismatched only about a week out of the year.
But climate change is likely to make such awkward—and potentially fatal—mismatches much more common, the team said this week at the North America Congress for Conservation Biology in Missoula, Montana. (See "7 Species Hit Hard by Climate Change—Including One That's Already Extinct.")
The hares seem to use the length of the day, rather than temperature or presence of snow, to time their "molt."...
