Animals That Turn White in Winter

28 Dec,2023

Credit: Google Images

Several species of hares—including the Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus), the mountain hare (L. timidus), and the snowshoe hare (L. americanus)—turn from brown or grayish to white in the winter. 

Credit: Google Images

Hares

Three species of weasels swap their warm summer browns for icy whites: the least weasel (Mustela nivalis), the long-tailed weasel (M. frenata), and the short-tailed weasel, or stoat (M. erminea).

Credit: Google Images

Weasels

A subspecies of caribou native to the High Arctic of Canada and Greenland, Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) exchange their silvery summer coats for white ones with the coming of winter. 

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Peary Caribou

Lemmings in the genus Dicrostonyx, which comprises an indeterminate number of species, turn from brown or gray in the warmer months to white when the snows come. 

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Collared Lemmings

All three species of ptarmigans—a genus of birds related to grouse, chickens, and pheasants—trade their scalloped brown plumage for white feathers. (They spend spring and fall in a mottled state, matching the patchy snow cover.) 

Credit: Google Images

Ptarmigans

This is probably the only animal on this list that you can actually keep as a pet. The Siberian hamster, or Dzhungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus), often sold as the “winter white,” will change from a silvery chinchilla shade to mostly white if it is kept in a room that receives natural light. 

Credit: Google Images

Siberian Hamsters

Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) are typically brownish gray in the summer and frosty white in the winter. Weirdly, coastal populations in Alaska and Canada are slate gray and lighten only slightly during the winter. 

Credit: Google Images

Arctic Foxes