Death of a Snowshoe Hare

We did a science fair project about the death of a snowshoe hare. The hare was found crushed under a garage door. The students' task was to investigate the cause of death. The class necropsied the partially frozen remains, with the aid of Ms. Dale, an archaeologist with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resourses. A necrospy is a forensic examination of an animal to determine cause of death.

During the course of the investigation, students necropsied and skeletonized the hare, and interviewed the individual who found the hare.

 

 Snowshoe Hare

Necropsy examination of hare.

Question: The question the students wanted to answer was: "Why did the hare let the garage door crush it?"

Hypotheses: Students came up with a number of hypotheses, including:

1. The hare was deaf and didn't hear the garage door.
2. The hare was used to the garage door opening and closing and wasn't concerned about it.
3. The hare got stuck in a crack between the door and the driveway and couldn't escape.

Conclusion: The necropsy examination revealed that the hare had probably died of a broken neck, when the garage door closed on its neck. This led students to re-ask the question of why didn't the hare save itself?

We hypothesized again, this time discussing behaviors of hares. Students pretended they were hares and reacted to various threats from predators: owls, hawks, and coyotes. Students quickly grasped the ides that in order to stay alive when there is a threat from above, a hare would need to stay very still. An internet search confirmed this, and students learned that rabbits can freeze up to 15 minutes when a predator is flying overhead.

Students concluded that the hare died because it thought the garage door was a predator.