The pine forests and surrounding habitats of North America are home to the snow-shoe hare.

The hare gets its name from its large back feet that stop it sinking in the snow as it runs. Rusty brown in the summer months, its white winter coat makes it difficult to spot as it forages on a wide range of vegetation.

Its natural camouflage is the hare's first line of defence against a formidable predator- the lynx. This North American cat is one of four species of lynx. Globally, the largest populations are found in North America but other species occur in isolated pockets across Asia and Europe. Some, like the Iberian Lynx, are critically endangered.

Lynx rely heavily on large areas of forest where they can hunt for their prey- especially the snowshoe hare. Records illustrating the size of lynx populations in North America reveal one reason why the species has suffered a decline. The records are from fur returns generated from large-scale trapping during the late 19^th to early 20^th century. These demonstrated how the interactions between a predator and its prey could lead to large scale fluctuations over time