About Rabbits and Hares

I was out before dawn the other morning and was struck by the amount of tracks that appeared with the rising sun.  The snowshoe hare prints were the ones that especially caught my eye. They went up the trail, under the bushes, around the tree, and back again. The tracks were everywhere.   

Snowshoe hares, or Lepus americanus, are part of the Lepus genus, which is a part of the Leporidae family.  Animals in the Leporidae family include both rabbits and hares. Hares are generally different from rabbits because they are larger, faster, have longer ears, and are less social than rabbits.⁽¹⁾

The snowshoe hare gets its name because of its wide hind feet that prevent it from sinking in the snow.  It also has fur covering its feet to protect them during the winter. 

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Another interesting trait of the snowshoe hare is that it changes its coat with the seasons. During the winter their fur is white. In the summer months the fur turns a brownish color.  The coat transformation takes about ten weeks to complete. However, even in the winter, the snowshoe hare has black ear tips. 

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Hares and rabbits typically move in what is called a bounding gate.  A bounding gate is a hopping motion that can be separated into two parts with the front feet landing together and then the hind feet landing together.   

When you find tracks of a bounding gate animal it looks like the hind feet land in front of the front feet. This can sometimes be disorienting when you are trying to figure out direction of travel. But it actually makes sense if you have ever watched a rabbit move.

The photo below from The Old Naturalist offers a great illustration of this.

Other animals such as squirrels and mice also use a similar gait.  But their tracks are much smaller.

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Poetry of Rabbits

Although I wasn’t able to find any poems that specifically spoke about the snowshoe hare, I was able to locate a few poems about rabbits.  This first one is by Frank Mitalsky and was published in the August 1923 edition of Poetry Magazine.

“Rabbit in the Moonlight” by Frank Mitalsky

Moonlight is sharp until I see
A rabbit sitting quietly.
Then wall and fence and tree and burr
Grow soft and touch the night with fur.

Shadows are dead until I see
The rabbit turn and creep from me.
Then every bar thrown on the ground
Creep off without making a sound. 

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Wallace Stevens wrote another rabbit inspired poem titled “A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts”. This poem can be found in the October 1937 edition of Poetry Magazine. Here is a couple verses from that poems

“A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts” by Wallace Stevens

The difficulty to think at the end of day,   
When the shapeless shadow covers the sun   
And nothing is left except light on your fur—
(verse 1)

And to feel that the light is a rabbit-light,   
In which everything is meant for you   
And nothing need be explained;
(verse 4)

And full of yourself. The trees around are for you,   
The whole of the wideness of night is for you,   
A self that touches all edges,
(verse 6)

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Finally, Paul S Piper wrote a great poem the dogs tracking rabbits in the snow.  This poem, titled “Dog and Snow”,  has some wonderful verses such as:

Dog sees white. Arctic
light, the bright buzz in the brain

And,

looking for snowshoe hares, caribou, cats.
His wild ancestry ignited, Dog plunges
 
his nose into snow up to his eyes. 

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You can read the full poem here. You can also find this poem in his book, Dogs and Other Poems. 

If you have any favorite poems about rabbits or hares, feel free to share in the comments below!

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Resources:

1. National Geographic: “What’s the difference between rabbits and hares” 
2. The Old Naturalist: Animal Tracking, Animal Tracks Gallery
3. Frank Mitalsky: “Rabbit in the Moonlight” 
4. Wallace Stevens; “A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts”
5. Paul S Piper: Dog and Snow

Looking for something else to read? Naturalist Weekly also has several curated book lists including one for nature lovers, one about birds, and books featured on our blog. 

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