Critter Science
The Science of Animals
The pika, aka rock rabbit, resembles a mouse, but is actually more closely related to rabbits and hares. It’s part of the order Lagomorpha. A couple features set them apart from rabbits and hares too: short ears and a long tale. As cute as they are, don’t get any ideas of owning one for a pet. These are wild animals, through and through. They are best kept that way. Pikas are
The arctic hare lives in the extremely harsh environment of the North American tundra and Greenland. The Arctic hare is well-suited to conditions typically seen in the tundra regions, plateaus, and treeless coasts of this area. They are specifically adapted to cold weather and frozen
The black-tailed jackrabbit is found in the western U.S. from Washington down south to California, Arizona, and eastward to Nebraska and Texas. It is an introduced species in New Jersey & Kentucky. There are 5 known species of jackrabbit and they live in open grasslands,
The bilby is small marsupial that belongs to the bandicoot family. There used to be two species: the greater and the lesser bilby. They were, at one time, widespread across Australia. Today, only the greater bilby exists and it’s endangered due to
The African hare is a species of mammal native to diverse regions and habitats of Africa, including savannas and the Sahel. They spend
Looking like a rabbit and a kangaroo mated, we have the springhare. These critters live in the semiarid steppes and dry savannas of Kenya and Tanzania as well as in Southwestern Africa. They can travel up to 18 miles in search of food!