How many baby Snowshoe hares are in a litter?
A Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 6 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 36 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 67 grams (0.15 lbs) and measure 15.3 cm (0′ 7″). They are a member of the Leporidae family (genus: Lepus). An adult Snowshoe hare grows up to a size of 42.4 cm (1′ 5″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), also called the varying hare, or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name “snowshoe” because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal’s feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks. Its feet also have fur on the soles to protect it from freezing temperatures.For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round. The snowshoe hare is also distinguishable by the black tufts of fur on the edge of its ears. Its ears are shorter than those of most other hares.In summer, it feeds on plants such as grass, ferns, and leaves; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and plants and, similar to the Arctic hare, has been known to occasionally eat dead animals. It can sometimes be seen feeding in small groups. This animal is mainly active at night and does not hibernate. The snowshoe hare may have up to four litters in a year, which average three to eight young. Males compete for females, and females may breed with several males.A major predator of the snowshoe hare is the Canada lynx. Historical records of animals caught by fur hunters over hundreds of years show the lynx and hare numbers rising and falling in a cycle, which has made the hare known to biology students worldwide as a case study of the relationship between numbers of predators and their prey.
Other animals of the family Leporidae
Snowshoe hare is a member of the Leporidae, as are these animals:
- Ethiopian highland hare weighting around 2.77 kilograms (6.11 lbs)
- Alaskan hare with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Black jackrabbit weighting around 1.27 kilograms (2.8 lbs)
- Chinese hare weighting around 1.61 kilograms (3.55 lbs)
- Tapeti with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Yunnan hare with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Abyssinian hare weighting around 2.02 kilograms (4.45 lbs)
- Antelope jackrabbit with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Woolly hare with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Korean hare raching a size of 46.5 cm (1′ 7″)
Animals that share a litter size with Snowshoe hare
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Eastern broad-toothed field mouse
- Neacomys tenuipes
- Black-footed ferret
- Japanese mountain mole
- Greater cane rat
- Nine-banded armadillo
- Delany’s mouse
- Yucatan deer mouse
- Greater red musk shrew
- Brown palm civet
Animals that get as old as a Snowshoe hare
Other animals that usually reach the age of 8 years:
- Northern bettong with 7 years
- Jamaican coney with 8.25 years
- Red-tailed chipmunk with 8 years
- Edible dormouse with 9 years
- Lesser short-nosed fruit bat with 8 years
- White-throated woodrat with 7.67 years
- Sarcophilus laniarius with 8.17 years
- Arctic hare with 7 years
- Black dorcopsis with 8 years
- Pacarana with 9.33 years
Animals with the same weight as a Snowshoe hare
What other animals weight around 1.57 kg (3.46 lbs)?
- Platypus usually reaching 1.48 kgs (3.26 lbs)
- Stein’s cuscus usually reaching 1.85 kgs (4.08 lbs)
- Northern brown bandicoot usually reaching 1.51 kgs (3.33 lbs)
- European pine marten usually reaching 1.3 kgs (2.87 lbs)
- Red giant flying squirrel usually reaching 1.54 kgs (3.4 lbs)
- Aquatic genet usually reaching 1.65 kgs (3.64 lbs)
- Eastern bettong usually reaching 1.66 kgs (3.66 lbs)
- Chacoan mara usually reaching 1.61 kgs (3.55 lbs)
- Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur usually reaching 1.62 kgs (3.57 lbs)
- Chinese hare usually reaching 1.61 kgs (3.55 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Snowshoe hare
Also reaching around 42.4 cm (1′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Sable gets as big as 45.1 cm (1′ 6″)
- Long-nosed echymipera gets as big as 45.3 cm (1′ 6″)
- Northern Luzon giant cloud rat gets as big as 38.2 cm (1′ 4″)
- Black-headed spider monkey gets as big as 48.9 cm (1′ 8″)
- Three-striped night monkey gets as big as 35.8 cm (1′ 3″)
- White-throated guenon gets as big as 45.7 cm (1′ 6″)
- Thomas’s flying squirrel gets as big as 34 cm (1′ 2″)
- Northern viscacha gets as big as 34.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Bahamian raccoon gets as big as 46.2 cm (1′ 7″)
- Swift fox gets as big as 50.5 cm (1′ 8″)