Alaska produces more snowshoe hare records than any other state, concentrated around Denali National Park and Preserve and Wrangell-St. Elias, with reports reaching north into the Brooks Range. That spread traces the boreal forest and brushy subalpine cover the species depends on across the Interior and Southcentral regions.
A snowshoe hare molts brown to white over about ten weeks each fall, triggered by shortening daylight rather than the arrival of snow, which can leave it mismatched against bare ground in an early thaw. Its oversized, thickly furred hind feet spread its weight over deep snow, and its diet swings from grasses and clover in summer to willow twigs, bark, and buds once the green layer disappears under snow.
Records run through the year but peak in spring, when long daylight and easier access put more observers out in hare habitat, not necessarily when hares themselves are most numerous. The species anchors the Interior’s predator food web, its population swings driving the well-documented boom-and-bust cycle of the Canada lynx.
Full species profile
