European Hare
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 European Hare running
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| Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 |
The European Hare or Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) is a species of hare native to northern, central, and western Europe and western Asia.
It is a mammal adapted to temperate open country. It is related to the similarly appearing rabbit, which is in the same family but a different genus. It breeds on the ground rather than in a burrow and relies on speed to escape.
It is larger, longer-eared, and longer-legged than a rabbit. It has a body size of 50-70 cm and a tail length of 7-11 cm. The weight for a full-grown adult ranges from 2.5 to 6.5 kg. It can run at speeds of up to 70 km/h (45 mi/h). It is strictly herbivorous. It eats grasses and herbs during the summer months but changes to feeding on twigs, bark, and the buds of young trees in winter, making it a pest to orchard farmers. In Serbia hare weighing nearly 8.35kg has been reported[citation needed]
Normally shy animals, hares change their behaviour in spring, when they 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". This is where hares strike one another with their 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.
The hare is declining in Europe due to changes in farming practices. Its natural predators include the Golden Eagle and carnivorous mammals like the Red Fox and Wolf.
Smaller hares native to southern Europe previously regarded as European Hares have been split off as separate species in recent years, including the Broom Hare in northern Spain.
[edit] Feral populations
The European Hare has become introduced and is now feral in Eastern North America, where it is sometimes known as the 'Eastern Jackrabbit'. It was imported from Germany by a farmer living near Cambridge, Ontario, Canada in 1912.
It escaped from the farm, successfully colonised fields and woodland edges, and quickly made the "Jackrabbit" a common sight in southern Ontario, New York State and New England. Natural predators such as eagles, owls, foxes, coyotes, and bobcats, together with humans and dogs, have kept the American population under control.
"Jackrabbit" in American usage (attested in 1882) more specifically refers to the closely related Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) and the White-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii). The name is supposed to be a shortening of "jackass-rabbit", so called for its long ears.
There are also feral populations in Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Mythology
In pre-christian Britain the hare was associated with the spring goddess Eostre, and a connection lives on in the Easter Bunny celebrations. In Holland and some other European mainland countries, it still is the Easter Hare rather than the Easter Bunny.
[edit] References
- Lagomorph Specialist Group (1996). Lepus europaeus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
