Arctic hare travels nearly 400 kilometres in 7 weeks; longest dash ever by its species

In an unusual migration story, an Arctic hare set a record of hopping nearly 400 kilometres in seven weeks, making it longest distance travelled in species of hares, rabbits, or ir relatives. Arctic hares are known to be non-migratory creatures as y prefer to spend ir lives in locations where vegetation is equate and easily available. However, this hare, named BBYY, because of its blue and yellow ear tags, has challenged this belief by travelling 388 kilometres in 49 days across Ellesmere Island in norrn Cana. 

"To think that such a small animal living under such extreme conditions averaged about eight kilometres per day across seven weeks is truly astounding," Joel Berger, an ecologist at Coloro State University in Fort Collins and a senior scientist at New York's Wildlife Conservation Society said as per Science News. Arctic hares, which form a crucial part of Arctic food web being prey to foxes and wolves, weigh no more than cats, around four kilograms. 

toughest one among its 24 companions

BBYY's journey was recorded using a satellite tracking collar, which was fitted onto creature along with 24 of its companions were captured near Cana's norrn Ellesmere Island. According to Explorers Web's report, BBYY gave birth to its offsprings, before it began weeks-long journey from an old Canian Forces base called Alert, which dates back to Cold War era and is still active. arctic hare reportedly travelled over Hazen Plateau and past Lake Hazen, which has mild summer wear and rich vegetation. 

tracking device revealed that out of 25 hares, 20 of m travelled somewhere between 113 and 310 kilometres but none came close to distance travelled by BBYY. research was led by mammalian ecologist Dominque Berteaux of Cana's Université du Québec à Rimouski, who along with his colleagues wanted to monitor movement of animals across cold and dry landscapes. After travelling almost 400 kilometres, BBYY also me its return journey but died of unknown causes about 100 kilometres away from its starting point.  However, Berteaux said that this study revealed something unexpected about se creatures which experts thought y knew well about. 

Image: Unsplash