An Arctic hare traveled at least 388 kilometers in a record-breaking journey:
BBYY, as the adult female [hare (Lepus arcticus)] was known, made a wild dash of more than 388 kilometers [~384 miles] in 49 days — the longest distance ever recorded among hares, rabbits or any other relatives — researchers report online December 22 in Ecology.
[...] Arctic hares — which weigh roughly the same as house cats, about four kilograms [~9 pounds] — are desirable prey for foxes and wolves on the tundra. Given the hares' important role in the Arctic food web, mammalian ecologist Dominque Berteaux of the Université du Québec à Rimouski wanted to know how the animals move across the arid landscape.
In 2019, Berteaux and colleagues affixed satellite tracking collars on 25 hares captured near the northern tip of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada. As the hares swiftly hopped away, the researchers had no idea the creatures were beginning a mind-blowing expedition across the tundra, Berteaux says. That's because hares and their relatives, called lagomorphs (SN: 3/8/58), typically spend their lives within a single, familiar territory where food is plentiful and easy to find.
[...] For a hare to endure such a perilous journey, it must balance the need to find food without becoming food, says Dennis Murray, a terrestrial ecologist at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, who wasn't involved in the work. That makes BBYY's excursion even more impressive, he says.
Journal Reference:
Sandra Lai, Émilie Desjardins, Jacob Caron-Carrier, et al. Unsuspected mobility of Arctic hares revealed by longest journey ever recorded in a lagomorph, Ecology (DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3620)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @11:51AM (5 children)
Arctic hares are also desirable prey for Arctic Hawks, which can fly over 400km from their nests in search of prey. That would explain why the tracking collar was found at the foot of a tree containing a large nest. But at least the researcher gets credit for not blaming the bunny's movement on AGW.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @12:32PM (3 children)
I don't think we can make a Disney/Pixar movie out of that scenario...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @12:58PM (2 children)
Sure you can, it's an arctic hare, so it has White fur. Just give the hawk dark feathers and you're good to go.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @01:22PM
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Thursday January 27 2022, @01:40PM
> Just give the hawk dark feathers
and some sort of physical disability - perhaps blind in one eye or something
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:09PM
Hare today, gone tomorrow.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @12:45PM
Did the tortoise catch it already?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @01:03PM (2 children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKL1_3vmXF8 [youtube.com]
But really. 388 kilometers [~384 miles]
How about 241 miles?
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Thursday January 27 2022, @05:43PM
Yeah, if 388 kilometers really was about 384 miles, conversion between them would be pretty trivial.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @09:06AM
Still not corrected? It is like nobody cares anymore, since Ari is gone.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:46PM (1 child)
The bunny was being chased by an arctic fox, known for it's 2,000-mile migrations.
https://wildlife.org/arctic-fox-breaks-records-with-over-2000-mile-journey [wildlife.org]
The paper https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3512/9288 [polarresearch.net]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @03:50PM
That fox had a really hot date!
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Thursday January 27 2022, @04:19PM
They keep going [youtube.com], and going, and going, and g...