OT: The arctic hare on Ellesmere Island

A Moose in Love

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Jun 23, 2019, 12:05:45 PM6/23/19

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I once read a book by a trekker who traveled on Ellesmere Island. He stated there once was a herd of arctic hare there that numbered approx. 40,000. The hares there, when they herd, they hop about so that predators get confused. The little ones, when they are finished drinking Mother's milk will box with each other for about half an hour.

http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpl/organisms/mammals/Terrestrial/archare.htm

dsi1

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Jun 23, 2019, 1:32:57 PM6/23/19

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On Sunday, June 23, 2019 at 6:05:45 AM UTC-10, A Moose in Love wrote:
> I once read a book by a trekker who traveled on Ellesmere Island. He stated there once was a herd of arctic hare there that numbered approx. 40,000. The hares there, when they herd, they hop about so that predators get confused. The little ones, when they are finished drinking Mother's milk will box with each other for about half an hour.
>
> http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpl/organisms/mammals/Terrestrial/archare.htm

A herd of rabbits gives me the creeps. 1 or 2 rabbits is pretty damn cute and cuddly. 40,000 sounds like an ecological disaster. We have an island just off the coast called "Rabbit Island." Some guy raised rabbits on it and they flourished there. Unfortunately they were killing the native birds that nested there so the rabbits were wiped out. Curiously, it's shaped like a rabbit head in certain angles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAms_iuWJyI

col...@gmail.com

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Jun 23, 2019, 1:41:27 PM6/23/19

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There's snowshoe rabbits which are really hares in the mountains of WV.

Cindy Hamilton

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Jun 23, 2019, 1:52:35 PM6/23/19

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Places that have indigenous rabbits have indigenous predators.

Cindy Hamilton

Janet

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Jun 24, 2019, 8:21:53 AM6/24/19

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In article <21ea688f-aa96-4e42...@googlegroups.com>,
angelica...@yahoo.com says...

Not where man has hunted/ killed out the original indigenous
predators, as happened in many parts of the world.

Britain no longer has any bears or wolves at the top of the wild
animal food chain (hunted out out centuries ago to protect people,
sheep, cattle etc).

The Scottish island I live on has large wild populations of deer and
rabbits with no surviving natural wild predators to limit their numbers,
not even foxes (killed out to protect game birds).

Re-introducing extinct previous natives into an incomplete modern eco-
system, is fraught with problems too. Scotland recently re-introduced
(extinct) beavers, now we find they are breeding faster than expected
with no natural controls. Currently, someone wants to re-introduce lynx
(with no higher wild predator); I suppose lynx might reduce bambi and
bunny babies, but also farmed animals, native ground nesting birds,
etc.The fairly recent re-introduction of wild boars in England (no
natural predator) was a mistake too.

Not to mention the damage man has done world-wide by deliberately or
accidentally introducing mink, possums, rabbits, cane toads, pythons etc
etc, into ecology systems lacking any native predators.

Janet UK

dsi1

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Jun 24, 2019, 1:08:53 PM6/24/19

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This goes without saying although you felt the need to. Indigenous rabbits have indigenous predators - until they don't.

tert in seattle

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Jun 24, 2019, 3:40:05 PM6/24/19

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col...@gmail.com writes:
>There's snowshoe rabbits which are really hares in the mountains of WV.

I've been seeing rabbits in Seattle more frequently lately

Gary

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Jun 25, 2019, 8:21:33 AM6/25/19

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I watched, "The House Bunny" (2008) again just the other night.
Repeats of that are *never* a waste of time. Good food for
thought. ;-D

dsi1

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Jun 25, 2019, 5:57:15 PM6/25/19

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I was waiting for a shuttle at a hotel in Minneapolis when I heard something in the bushes. Upon investigation, I was startled to see a little bunny hiding. It was very cute. There were also small deer that were occasionally darting across the street. These were small animals. Their small size and spindly nature made them look like creatures from another planet with different gravity. My guess is that a bunny like that would go for some bucks back in Hawaii - and we wouldn't even want to eat them!

Bruce

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Jun 25, 2019, 6:06:35 PM6/25/19

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A post without any mention of skin colour. Very good! One day you'll
post something without any mention of skin colour or any mention of
Hawaii. But don't worry for now. That's advanced stuff.

dsi1

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Jun 25, 2019, 6:14:22 PM6/25/19

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On Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 12:06:35 PM UTC-10, Bruce wrote:
>
> A post without any mention of skin colour. Very good! One day you'll
> post something without any mention of skin colour or any mention of
> Hawaii. But don't worry for now. That's advanced stuff.

Perhaps one day, you will too - but I'm not holding my breath! :)