AnAge entry for Lepus americanus

Classification (HAGRID: 02594)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Lagomorpha
                Family: Leporidae
                    Genus: Lepus
Species: Lepus americanus
Common name: Snowshoe hare

Maximum longevity: Not yet established
Observations: In the wild, these animals do not generally live more than 3 years and most die within their first year of life. Potential longevity has been estimated at 5 years [0434]. One wild born specimen was about 5.4 years of age when it died in captivity [0671]. Anecdotal reports of animals living up to 8 years have not been confirmed. Further studies are necessary to better estimate the maximum longevity of this species.

[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3 (PubMed)
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves