2008 Alaska Park Science Symposium
October 14, 2008
Snowshoe Hares in the Brooks Range: Geophagy and its Relationship to Hare and Lynx Health
Donna L. DiFolco1
1National Park Service, Fairbanks Administrative Center, 4175 Geist Road, Fairbanks, AK, 99709, USA, Phone 907-455-0625, donna_difolco@nps.gov
Certain populations of snowshoe hares in eastern Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve near Wiseman, Alaska, consume soils at exposed banks during the peak phase of their population cycle. According to local trappers, lynx consuming these geophagic hares appear underweight and have unusually dark, purplish flesh. Questions arising from this phenomenon gave rise to the snowshoe hare ecology project currently underway in the area. We hope, by the end of this long-term project, to shed some light on the complex relationships between snowshoe hares, the vegetation they consume, soils, and their main predator, lynx.
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