What is the main food of adult Arctic hares during the short summer growing season?

Adult Arctic hares mainly eat green vegetation during the short Arctic summer growing season.

Arctic hares are herbivores whose diet includes grasses, sedges, leaves, mosses, lichens, and other tundra plants. In summer, newly growing vegetation provides more nutritious and digestible food than the sparse, weathered material available during winter. Hares may also eat woody plants, buds, and roots when green growth is unavailable.

Their feeding habits reflect the extreme seasonality of the high Arctic. The growing season can be brief, so Arctic hares must exploit plant growth quickly while also storing energy as body fat. They often feed at dawn, dusk, or during other periods when temperatures and light conditions are favorable.

Arctic hares are sometimes mistaken for rabbits, but they are hares and generally have longer legs and ears. Unlike many rabbits, young Arctic hares are born relatively well developed and can move soon after birth, an advantage in an exposed environment with many predators.