"A hare may sit still as a survival tactic, relying on camouflage and stillness to avoid detection by predators. This behavior, known as "freezing," is an instinctual response to perceived danger, where the animal remains motionless to blend into the environment and hope to remain unnoticed." (Google AI)
I have noted this often enough with the hares I sometimes encounter in the cemetery, when they become aware of human presence. Usually they stop on a gravel path or grave, imagining theymselves invisible against a stony beige-brown background... They usually don't remain frozen for all that long, though, but take the first chance they get to disappear.
Last evening when looking out of my kitchen window, I saw the hare from my previous post again (I think it's the same one). This time he was sitting still as a stone statue right on the paved walkway - in a spot where there was little bit of extra grit and few dead brown leaves, which I suppose was the closest thing to camouflage that he was able to find when the need to become suddenly invisible hit him. What it was that had caused him to freeze, I could not see from where I stood. (I could not see any people nearby.) But what I learned from watching him for a while was that hares are able to remain "frozen" for a very long time... He did move one of his hind feet a little bit a couple of times, but otherwise he just sat absolutely still in the same position and looking in the same direction for over 15 minutes. (I don't know how long he had been sitting there when I first spotted him, and I finally gave up on waiting him out, and did not actually watch when he left. But not too long after my last photo.)
The time stamps for the the six photos in the collage are:
19:17 - 19:21 - 19:28 - 19:31 - 19:31 - 19:32
(Not sure if I have the camera set on winter or summer time, but never mind.)
I have seen them freeze for a long time, but not this long!!
ReplyDeleteSame here, Ginny (until now)!
DeleteHow lovely to see such a beautiful wild creature so close to your home.
ReplyDeleteAlways feels like a treat, YP!
DeleteYour patient watch reveals not only the hare’s instinct for camouflage, however imperfect, but also its extraordinary stillness as a strategy of survival, a quiet presence barely holding its place in a world of sudden dangers
ReplyDeleteMaybe a hare kind of yoga, Ro? ;-)
DeletePerhaps he was aware of people watching him from their windows?
ReplyDeleteCarol, as much as I wonder what hares may make of human dwellings, I think it more likely that he saw people on the ground further off (not visible to me from that window). There's a huge grassy football field close by.
DeleteI didn't know for how long hares (and rabbits, as far as I know) are able to remain in "freeze" mode.
ReplyDeleteOn my way home from work on Wednesday, I spotted two hares leisurely crossing a field together. When they spotted me, they stopped for a moment and looked, and I stopped too - so all three of us stood there, looking at each other. They moved on a few paces, looked again; moved on, looked, and after their third look at me, they (still at a rather leisurely pace) hoppled off together, disappearing between the man-high corn field one one side and a wildflower meadow on the other.
Such encounters are really special to me, and I know you feel that way, too.
It's always kind of magical, isn't it, Meike!
DeleteIt gives new meaning to the phrase 'frozen in fear' though perhaps your hare was less afraid than aware. Fifteen minutes is a very long time to remain motionless. Beautiful!
ReplyDelete"Aware" is probably a good word for it, Janice. Or cautious. I guess even we humans have a bit of the same instinct... After all, when I see a hare - I usually stop and stare, too!!
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