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Evading Capture
David
Gray saw Arctic hares use
unusual strategies to evade capture. Twice, a hare
being chased by an Arctic fox hopped up to a human
observer and stayed within 3 m (3 ft.) until the
fox gave up and departed. On another occasion,
three hares being pursued by wolves ran into the
midst of a muskox herd and rested there until the
wolves gave up the chase.
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Itchy Socks
"These hares are the
hosts of extraordinary numbers of fleas...
In the Cape York district, where hare skins
are used for stockings, it sometimes happens
that a hare is shot and the skin dried and
cured in a very short time, before the parasites
are dead, with the result that with the new
stockings one receives a colony of fleas.
Their bite is extremely painful and gives
an idea of how they must torture a hare".
- Freuchen 1935 |
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Eat and Be
Eaten
Food | Feeding | Predators | Parasites | Food
Web
Predators
Both mammals and birds prey upon the Arctic hare (Lepus
arcticus). The Arctic wolf is perhaps the most successful
of the animals known to prey on adult hares. Even young wolves
during their first autumn can successfully catch hares.
Although smaller than Arctic hares, Arctic foxes will attack
a full-grown hare, but usually without much success. Young
hares, however, often fall prey to hungry foxes, and ermines
(Mustela erminea) probably also prey on young hares.
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 Arctic wolf (Canis lupus).
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Among the predatory birds, the Gyrfalcon is a major hunter
of hares. In summer, when the Gyrfalcons are raising their
young, they regularly carry hares to the nest, first cutting
them in half to ease the load. Hare bones and feet form part
of the structure of Gyrfalcon nests on Ellesmere Island in
Nunavut. Farther south, Peregrine Falcons (Falco
peregrinus)
also prey on Arctic hares.
Snowy Owls also feed on hares, particularly the young. The
French common name of the Snowy Owl, harfang des neiges,
comes from the old Anglo-Saxon name harfang, meaning 'hare-catcher'.
Parasites
Arctic hares, like most mammals, have their share of parasites
and diseases. Internally, hares are known to harbour several
kinds of parasitic worms, and externally they are bothered
by a number of different fleas, the type depending on the
location of the hare population.
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