In today's blog, I'd like to talk about an article I read on www.sciencemag.com. I never knew that hares changed the color of their coat in the different seasons, so right away the story, simply by the title, attracted my interest. Apparently, hares are not changing the color of their coats and are sticking out like a sore thumb to predators. This can be very bad for the hare population. Their race can die out or even become extinct. After an experiment ran by L. Scott Mills, him and his team were able to figure out exactly what was going on by placing radio tags on the hares. Because of the shorter winters coming, it is harder for certain animals to adjust their camouflage. Mills hopes that evolutionary change can take place and possibly preserve he species but if not they will die out. For more information on this story and the actual experiment both links are included below.
Color-Changing Hare Can't Keep Up With Climate Change - ScienceNOW
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/04/10/1222724110
story credit:
L. Scott Mills et al., PNAS Early Edition (2013)
story source: www.sciencemag.org
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