Snowshoe hare
Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777
The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) is a mammal of the family Leporidae in the order Lagomorpha, also called the varying hare, northern hare or snowshoe rabbit. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore with an adult body mass of 1.71 kg.
Quick facts about the snowshoe hare
Gestation lasts 36.85 days, litters average 3.4 young, and females produce 2.55 litters per year, with sexual maturity reached at 259 days. Its lifespan is given as 5.4 years, with values up to 8 years, and the IUCN Red List classifies it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 1.57 kg – 1.71 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 5.41 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 8 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 34 days – 36.9 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.41src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 8.52 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2.55src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the snowshoe hare
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the snowshoe hare live?
Not recorded
What is the snowshoe hare?
The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), also called the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. The "snowshoe" moniker refers to the hare's large hind feet, which prevent it from sinking into soft snow, much like snowshoes.
The hare has two seasonal coats which aid in camouflaging the animal. In summer, the hare is covered in short, brown fur; in winter this is exchanged for a longer coat of white fur. The name "varying hare" refers to this seasonal change in appearance.
A major predator of the snowshoe hare is the Canada lynx. Historical records of animals caught by fur hunters over decades 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Snowshoe hare” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snowshoe_hare&oldid=1379114034), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the snowshoe hare endangered?
The snowshoe hare is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the snowshoe hare classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderLagomorpha
- familyLeporidae
- genusLepus
- SpeciesLepus americanus Erxleben, 1777
Synonyms Lepus bishop, Lepus columbiensis, Lepus hudsonius, Lepus macfarlani, Lepus nanus, Lepus niediecki, Lepus pallidus, Lepus pinetus, Lepus pinetus, Lepus seclusus seclusus, Lepus setzeri, Lepus wardi
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- Northern hareEnglish
- Snowshoe haresEnglish
- Snowshoe rabbitEnglish
- Snowshoe rabbitEnglish
- Varying hareEnglish
- Varying hareEnglish
- Американ ош моренMari
- zajíc měnivýCzech
- Amerikansk sneskohareDanish
- SchneeschuhhaseGerman
- ΧιονολαγόςGreek
- Χιονιοπαπουτσοτός ΛαγόςGreek
- Liebre americanaSpanish
- Ameerika jänesEstonian
- lumikenkäjänisFinnish
- lièvre d'AmériqueFrench
- Lièvre américainFrench
- maigheachScottish Gaelic
- ארנבת השלגHebrew
- hócipős nyúlHungarian
- カンジキウサギJapanese
- 눈덧신토끼Korean
- 아메리카산토끼Korean
- SnøskohareNorwegian Bokmål
- Amerikaanse SneeuwhaasDutch
- WaboozOjibwa
- waaboozOjibwa
- zając amerykańskiPolish
- Lebre-americanaPortuguese
- Iepure americanRomanian
- Iepure american propriu-zisRomanian
- Iepure de câmp de zăpadăRomanian
- Iepure de zăpadăRomanian
- Американский белякRussian
- snöskohareSwedish
- Заєць американськийUkrainian
- Thỏ rừng CanadaVietnamese
- mú∙ḱiWasho
- 雪鞋兔Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the snowshoe hare
Other species in the same genus Lepus.
European hare
Lepus europaeus
Mountain hare
Lepus timidus
Arctic hare
Lepus arcticus
Cape hare
Lepus capensis
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Lepus californicus
Granada hare
Lepus granatensis
CompareSnowshoe hare vs European hareSnowshoe hare vs Mountain hareSnowshoe hare vs Arctic hareSnowshoe hare vs Cape hare
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the snowshoe hare?
The snowshoe hare is a mammal in the family Leporidae, order Lagomorpha. It is a terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore.
How heavy is a snowshoe hare?
An adult snowshoe hare weighs 1.71 kg, placing it in the medium size class (1 to 25 kg).
What does the snowshoe hare eat?
The snowshoe hare is a herbivore.
Is the snowshoe hare endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List classifies the snowshoe hare as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a snowshoe hare live?
The snowshoe hare's lifespan is given as 5.4 years, with values up to 8 years reported.
How many young does a snowshoe hare have?
A snowshoe hare litter averages 3.4 young, with 2.55 litters per year after a gestation of 36.85 days.
Who named the snowshoe hare?
The snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, was named by Erxleben, 1777.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowshoe-hare
“Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowshoe-hare.
@misc{snowshoe_hare_2026,
title = {Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowshoe-hare},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}