Hare
| Hares | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 European Hare (Lepus europaeus)
| ||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Lepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758 | ||||||||||||
|
See text |
Hare is the common name for small, fast-running mammals in the genus Lepus of the lagomorph family Leporidae, characterized by long ears and legs, large hind feet, a short and bushy tail, and young born with fur and with eyes open. All other members of Leporidae are known as rabbits and are characterized by young born without fur and with eyes closed, and generally by shorter ears and smaller size (Angerbjörn 2004). The lagomorphs (order Lagomorpha) also includes the pikas, which are placed in family Ochotonidae. Some true hares (genus Lepus) also have the common name rabbit, being known as jackrabbits.
Some members of Leporidae outside of the Lepus genus also utilize the common name hare, despite being considered rabbits—notably the hispid hares of the Coprolagus genus and the red-rock-hares of the Pronolagus genus. This article will be limited to members of the Lepus genus.
Overview and description
Hares, rabbits, and pikas comprise the order Lagomorpha, which is divided into two families: Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and Ochotonidae (pikas). Originally classified as rodents (order Rodentia), the lagomorphs are separated based on having a second, small, peg-like upper incisor sitting behind the first, large, continually growing incisor, whereas rodents possess only a single, upper incisor (Smith 2004). Also, lagomorphs have a single layer of enamel in the front incisors versus the double layer in rodents (Smith 2004). Lagomorphs have huge to relatively large ears, short tails (not visible in pikas), and cannot grasp food with their paws (Smith 2004).
Lagomorphs have a very large digestive system, apparently adapted to digesting large amounts of plant material, much of it difficult from which to extract nutrients (Smith 2004). The caecum tends to be giant—up to ten times larger than the stomach—and it has a rich fauna of bacteria and other microorganisms that help to break down the plant matter (Smith 2004). Lagomorphs also practice coprophagy, whereby they eat their feces to undergo re-digestion and help yield up to five times as many vitamins as in the original food (Smith 2004).
The Leporidae family consists of 11 extant genera and 61 species of hares and rabbits (Angerbjörn 2004). The true hares comprise the Lepus genus, while rabbits are classified into the other 10 genera. Leporids all have long legs, long ears, and large hind feet, as well as a short and bushy tail. Each foot has five digits (one reduced); rabbits and hares move about on the tips of the digits in a fashion known as digitigrade locomotion.
Hares tend to have brown or gray as the base of the soft [[fur], and usually with black markings on the fur of their ears (unlike rabbits). The snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, has large hind feet that turn white during the winter (Angerbjörn 2004). Hares range in size from 40 to 75 centimeters in length (15 to 30 inches) and weigh between 1,350 grams and 6,000 grams (3 to 13.2 pounds (Angerbjörn 2004). They tend to be larger in size than rabbits, and with longer legs and ears, and they tend to run faster than rabbits. The European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) can run at speeds of up to 72 km/h (45 mph).
Hares are clearly distinguished from rabbits in that rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless, whereas hares are born with hair and are able to see (precocial).
Very young hares, less than one year old, are known as leverets.
Location and habitat
Hares and rabbits are found in most parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, but are not found naturally in Australia, New Zealand and other Oceania islands, Madagascar, southern South America, and most of Amazonia (Smith 2004; Angerbjörn 2004). However, have been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, Java, southern South America, and over 500 oceanic islands (Smith 2004). European hares have been introduced into Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, and southern Siberia (Angerbjörn 2004).
Hares, being fast running, tend to inhabit more open areas, such as arctic tundra to deserts to grasslands (Angerbjörn 2004). The European hares are naturally found in open terrain from arid steppes to forest steppes (Angerbjörn 2004). In such a habitat, they can elude predators with their running speed, although they also take advantage of camouflage with their brown or gray fur among shrubs and rocks (Angerbjörn 2004). While most rabbits are found in forest and shrubs, where they can hide, and hares are more common to open areas, the snowshoe hare and some mountain hares and Manchurian hares typically inhabit mixed forests or coniferous forests (Angerbjörn 2004).
Hares generally live in simple nests above the ground, in contrast to most rabbits that live underground in burrows or warrens (interconnected maze of burrows). (The cottontail rabbits do not build burrows, but nest in holes.)
Behavior, diet, and reproduction
Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow or warrens (interconnected maze of burrows) as do other Leporidae, but rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form.
Hares are adapted to the lack of physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. They are hence able to fend for themselves very quickly after birth — that is to say, they are precocial. By contrast, the related rabbits and cottontail rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless.
Hares live solitarily or in pairs, whilst "a drove of hares" is the collective noun for a group of hares.
A common type of hare in arctic North America is the Snowshoe Hare, replaced further south by the Black-tailed Jackrabbit, White-tailed Jackrabbit and other species.
Normally a shy animal, the European Brown Hare changes its behaviour in spring, when hares can be seen in broad daylight chasing one another around meadows; this appears to be competition between males to attain dominance (and hence more access to breeding females). During this spring frenzy, hares can be seen "boxing"; one hare striking another with its paws (probably the origin of the term "mad as a March hare"). For a long time it had been thought that this was inter-male competition, but closer observation has revealed that it is usually a female hitting a male, either to show that she is not yet quite ready to mate, or as a test of his determination.
The hare's diet is very similar to the rabbit's.
Classification
- Genus Lepus [1]
- Subgenus Macrotolagus
- Antelope Jackrabbit, Lepus alleni
- Subgenus Poecilolagus
- Snowshoe Hare, Lepus americanus
- Subgenus Lepus
- Arctic Hare, Lepus arcticus
- Alaskan Hare, Lepus othus
- Mountain Hare, Lepus timidus
- Subgenus Proeulagus
- Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
- White-sided Jackrabbit, Lepus callotis
- Cape Hare, Lepus capensis
- Tehuantepec Jackrabbit, Lepus flavigularis
- Black Jackrabbit, Lepus insularis
- Scrub Hare, Lepus saxatilis
- Desert Hare, Lepus tibetanus
- Tolai Hare, Lepus tolai
- Subgenus Eulagos
- Broom Hare, Lepus castroviejoi
- Yunnan Hare, Lepus comus
- Korean Hare, Lepus coreanus
- Corsican Hare, Lepus corsicanus
- European Hare, Lepus europaeus
- Granada Hare, Lepus granatensis
- Manchurian Hare, Lepus mandschuricus
- Woolly Hare, Lepus oiostolus
- Ethiopian Highland Hare, Lepus starcki
- White-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus townsendii
- Subgenus Sabanalagus
- Ethiopian Hare, Lepus fagani
- African Savanna Hare, Lepus microtis
- Subgenus Indolagus
- Hainan Hare, Lepus hainanus
- Indian Hare, Lepus nigricollis
- Burmese Hare, Lepus peguensis
- Subgenus Sinolagus
- Chinese Hare, Lepus sinensis
- Subgenus Tarimolagus
- Yarkand Hare, Lepus yarkandensis
- Subgenus incertae sedis
- Japanese Hare, Lepus brachyurus
- Abyssinian Hare, Lepus habessinicus
- Subgenus Macrotolagus
Folklore and mythology
The hare in African folk tales is a trickster; some of the stories about the hare were retold among African slaves in America, and are the basis of the Brer Rabbit stories. The hare appears in English folklore in the saying "as mad as a March hare".
Many cultures, including the Indian and Japanese, see a hare in the pattern of dark patches in the moon (see Man in the Moon). The constellation Lepus represents a hare. There is evidence to suggest that there was some sort of taboo regarding hares in the Proto-Indo-European culture; this is especially notable due to the likelihood that the common word for hare, *kasos, which literally means "the grey one", was a euphemism for a previous and now lost word for hare.[citation needed]
According to Jewish tradition, the hare is among four mammals deemed not Kosher.
One of Aesops fables tells the story of 'The Tortoise and the Hare'.
Famous hares
- Jack Hare, central character in Kit Williams' treasure hunt book Masquerade
- Bucky O'Hare
- Jazz Jackrabbit
- Hare from Monster Rancher
- Hartley Hare from Pipkins
- Mad March Hare from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- Hare Jordan, Bugs Bunny's alter-ego in a Nike advertisement campaign alongside Michael Jordan.
- Night of the Lepus features a number of murderous hares.
- Two hares travelled with The Animals of Farthing Wood
- The hare in the fable The Tortoise and the Hare, attributed to Aesop.
- A large number of hares appear in the Redwall series of books and are almost always militaristic, particularly those from Salamandastron, and have an affected speech pattern.
- Peppy Hare from the Star Fox series of video games
- Zayats, the hare from the Russian cartoon Nu, pogodi!
Three hares
Recent (2004) research has followed the history and migration of a symbolic image of three hares with conjoined ears. In this image, three hares are seen chasing each other in a circle with their heads near its centre. While each of the animals appears to have two ears, only three ears are depicted. The ears form a triangle at the centre of the circle and each is shared by two of the hares. The image has been traced from Christian churches in the English county of Devon right back along the Silk Road to China, via Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It is possible that even before its appearance in China it was actually first depicted in the Middle East before being re-imported centuries later. Its use has been found associated with Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist sites stretching back to about 600 C.E.
Placenames
The hare has given rise to local placenames, as they can often be repeatedly observed over many years in favoured localities. An example in Scotland is 'Murchland', the Scots for a hare being 'Murchen'.[2]
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Angerbjörn, A. 2004. Hares and rabbits (Leporidae). Pages 505 to 516 in B. Grzimek et al., Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, vol. 16, mammals V. Detroit, MI: Thomson/Gale. ISBN 0787657921.
- Smith, A. T. 2004. Lagomorpha (Pikas, rabbits, and hares). Pages 479 to 489 in B. Grzimek et al., Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, vol. 16, mammals V. Detroit, MI: Thomson/Gale. ISBN 0787657921.
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
