Hares
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Hares and jackrabbits belong to family Leporidae, and mostly in
genus Lepus. Very young hares are called leverets.
They are very fast moving. The European Brown Hare (Lepus
europaeus) can run at speeds of up to 70 km/h (45 mi/h). Hares
live solitarily or in pairs.
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
behavior 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. For a
long time it had been thought that this was more 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.
Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do
other Leporidae, but rather in a shallow depression or flattened
nest of grass called a form. Young hares are adapted to the lack
of physical protection offered by a burrow by being precocial,
born fully furred and with eyes open. By contrast, the related
rabbits and cottontail rabbits are altricial, having young that
are born blind and hairless.
The hare's diet is very similar to that of the rabbit.
Classification
Order LAGOMORPHA
Family Leporidae
Genus Lepus
Antelope Jackrabbit, Lepus alleni
Snowshoe Hare, Lepus americanus
Japanese Hare, Lepus brachyurus
Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
White-sided Jackrabbit, Lepus callotis
Cape Hare, Lepus capensis
Broom Hare, Lepus castrovieoi
Yunan Hare, Lepus comus
Korean Hare, Lepus coreanus
Corsican Hare, Lepus corsicanus
Savanna Hare, Lepus crawshayi
European Hare, Lepus europaeus
Ethiopian Hare, Lepus fagani
Tehuantepec Jackrabbit, Lepus flavigularis
Granada Hare, Lepus granatensis
Hainan Hare, Lepus hainanus
Black Jackrabbit, Lepus insularis
Manchurian Hare, Lepus mandschuricus
Indian Hare, Lepus nigricollis
Woolly Hare, Lepus oiostolus
Alaskan Hare, Lepus othus
Burmese Hare, Lepus peguensis
Scrub Hare, Lepus saxatilis
Chinese Hare, Lepus sinensis
Ethiopian Highland Hare, Lepus starcki
Mountain Hare, Lepus timidus (including Arctic Hare)
Tolai Hare, Lepus tolai
White-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus townsendii
African Savanna Hare, Lepus victoriae
Malawi Hare, Lepus whytei
Yarkand Hare, Lepus yarkandensis
Genus Caprolagus
Hispid Hare, Caprolagus hispidus
Genus Pronolagus
Greater Red Rockhare, Pronolagus crassicaudatus
Jameson's Red Rockhare, Pronolagus randensis
Smith's Red Rockhare, Pronolagus rupestris
8 other genera in family, regarded as rabbits, not hares
Hares in Folklore and Mythology
"How to allure the Hare". Facsimile of a Miniature in the
Manuscript of Phoebus (Fifteenth Century). 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. (Note that the famous cartoon trickster
Bugs Bunny is a jackrabbit, which is actually a species of hare.)
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.
Famous Hares
Jack Hare, central character in Kit Williams' treasure hunt book
Masquerade
Bucky O'Hare
Hare from Monster Rancher
Hartley Hare from Pipkins
Mad March Hare from Alice in Wonderland
The 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 CE.
See Also:
Index of All Rabbit Care & Bunny
Fun Stuff
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