We just got through studying hair follicles on the human body. Did you know that hair is simply a string of stuck together skin cells? And that the hair goes through three phases in its growth process? Anagen (growth), catagen (short pause), and telogen (shedding). We also found that the growth cycle is much shorter for some hairs on your body than others, like arm hairs. This is why some hairs are always short. This growth cycle will determine how long your head hair can grow before it sheds, which is a bummer if you want your hair down to the floor but your hair enters the telogen phase after 3-5 years when your hair is only to your shoulder blades. You can tell what phase your hair follicle is in by the way the end of the hair shaft looks. A dark, wet end indicates it was still growing and a white end tells you it was pausing and ready to shed. Those hairs that fall out on their own are definitely in the shedding phase. And did you know that your hair color is determined by the melanin at the base of your hair follicle? Melanin is the same stuff that gives your skin its color. When your body quits producing melanin in your hair follicle, your hair turns clear which appears to be grey or white because of the way the light passed through it.
As humans, we cannot change our hair color unless we dye it. The snowshoe hare, though, changes its hair color every year, but its color does not come from a box. How does it do it? What triggers such a dramatic change in its hair color, going from white to brown and then back to white? We set out to learn about this amazing creature.
The snowshoe hare is brown in the late spring through the early fall in most regions. Then it starts to change color. It begins to turn white. This change starts at the top of its ears and then moves to the body. Only the very tip of its ears stay black.
This amazing change from brown to white starts to take place when the days start getting shorter. Sunlight enters into the hare's eyes and hits the melanopsin at the back of the eye. Melanopsin is the photo-sensative pigment in the retina. The melanopsin regulates the circadian rhythms (help us, as humans, know when to be tired, hungry, alert, etc., like a biological clock) and the circadian rhythms stimulate the part of the brain (hypothalamus) that will stimulate the melanin producing cells in the body. The less light that is received by the melanopsin, the less stimulation the melanin cells receive, causing them to slow the production of melanin and the hare begins to grow white (or clear).
The snowshoe hare takes 10 weeks to change from one color to the next, so there's a good chance in the spring or fall that you could see a hare mid-change.
There are some regions that the snowshoe hare never turns white, like Oregon and Washington, because the light never diminishes enough to trigger the change.
HARE VS. Rabbit
There are differences between the hare and the rabbit. If your not convinced, we'll show you some of them.
Difference one: the ears are different sizes. The rabbit has smaller ears.
Difference two: foot size. The feet of the hare (especially the snowshoe) are bigger than the rabbit's feet.
Difference three: the hare's body is bigger than the rabbit's.
Difference four: hare have taller hind legs than the rabbit.
Did you know that rabbits and hares both eat their poop? But not just any poop. The brown, hard pellets are pure waste. The green stuff is nutritious. It's full of undigested goodness. If you chance to see green bunny poop, you should consider yourself lucky. Green poop is a rare find because bunnies tend to eat it quickly. It also means that the bunny didn't eat it fast enough before you scared it off and it is close by, waiting to return to its meal, so quietly stick around and you might get to witness this. And maybe you can tell if it's a hare or rabbit!