the hare's winter garb
Snow white
A white hare on a white background is difficult to see. The mountain hare has protective colouring.
But why is that?
In the eye of the predator hares are common prey for animals like eagle, fox and lynx. The predators discover their prey mostly by plain sight. If the prey is camouflaged, it can escape easier.
White turns brown
In the summer the ground is dark, allowing predators to easily detect a white hare. But the hare isn't white in the summer; it has changed colour to brown. It has new protective colouring!
Predators and prey
The hare's colour and colour changes allow it to more easily elude constantly present predators. There are many examples of protective colouring: females of capercaillie, black grouse and many wild ducks.
