Everything about The European Hare totally explained
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.
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's usually a female hitting a male, either to show that she isn't 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.
Wild populations
The European Hare is now wild in Eastern
North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and many islands including Tasmania, the
Falklands, Barbados and Reunion.
The species was imported to North America 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 where it's sometimes called the 'Eastern Jackrabbit'.
Natural predators such as
eagles,
owls,
foxes,
coyotes, and
bobcats, together with humans and
dogs, have kept the American population under control. Hares have often been
hunted or
coursed for sport.
"
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.
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, Belgium and some other European mainland countries, it still is the Easter Hare rather than the Easter Bunny.
Further Information
Get more info on 'European Hare'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://european_hare.totallyexplained.com">European Hare Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
