Longest lagomorph journey

The longest journey recorded for a lagomorph (i.e., hares, rabbits and pikas) is 388 kilometres (241 miles) – equivalent to the distance from Washington, DC to New York City in the USA – over a period of just 49 days. This was carried out by a tagged Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada in 2019. It travelled to and then beyond Lake Hazen before doubling back. This exceptional individual was one of 25 Arctic hares tagged to track their movements, but although most of the others travelled more than 100 kilometres (61 miles) towards the lake, none of them even reached it, let alone travelled beyond it and then retraced their steps. The findings were published in the journal Ecology on 22 December 2021.

The reason why Arctic hares migrate such distances is presently undetermined. However, researchers suspect that it is to search for food in this bleak environment, and that the environs of Lake Hazen must be plentifully supplied with it in order for the hares to risk making such a lengthy hazardous journey, bearing in mind that they are favoured prey for many of the region's predators, including snowy owls, Arctic foxes, wolves and gulls.

The study was published by several researchers from the Centre for Northern Studies and Quebec Center for Biodiversity Science at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada,