Hare is an animal which many people thought as rabbit because they look very much similar to them, but actually there are lot of differences between hare and a rabbit. Hares generally have longer ear and are longer in size than rabbit. Hares give birth to their new one in open while rabbit give birth in burrows. Since birth, hare have full fur on their body unlike rabbits and hare is also not a good option to pet as they are wild animals while rabbits are one of the preferred choices as pet.
Facts and Information About Hare
- Hares are also known as jackrabbits and they come from the same family as of rabbit i.e. Leporidae
- There are total 32 species of hares found across the world
- When hares form the group, it is known as drove or warren
- Male hare is known as jack while the female is known as Jill and, hare with less than one year of age is known as leveret.
Hare Diet
Hares are basically herbivores and prefer to eat plants, leaves, flowers etc. They can eat fruits, vegetables and seeds as well.
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Hare Habitat
Hares are found across the Europe, North America, Japan (in some part only) and Eurasia. They prefer to live in an area where they get lot of vegetation to eat as well as to use the plant and bushes to hide themselves from their enemies. They love to run so that they always love to live in an open and wide area where they can freely run and jump.
Behavior
Hares are known to be very shy, docile and calm animal and they spend the majority of the time in search for food and to rest.
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Lifestyle
Since the birth, hares can be able to see and walk and by the 4th week they develop properly and take care of themselves by their own. Until the leverets can fend for themselves, the mother cares for them and provides food. She leaves them in the nest while she gathers food, returning before dusk to feed them.
However, lifestyle of the hare may differ from one to other species. For example, snowshoe hare go out in night to grab food from trees, plants etc. while the arctic hare dig the hole under the snow and live over there to keep them warm and they often spotted in large groups.
Predators
Hares are extremely fast and quite big as well that’s why they are not easy target for the predators. Additionally, they have an excellent sense of smell and hearing, allowing them to detect danger and find a safe path before a predator can locate or approach them. However, usually hares hunt down by the wild dogs, hawks, owls and coyotes, while the biggest predator of them is human who hunt them for a sport or for food.
Breeding
During the season of spring they are active very much and chase one another. Males engage in chasing games to assert dominance over one another, with the most dominant male having a better chance of breeding with the female.
After that, hares get involved in the boxing which happen between the male and female, this is not a competition but actually it is a way female either checks the dominance and determination of the male to mate or they oppose the male that they are not ready for the mating. The female will only allow the male to mate if she is satisfied with him.
If they mate, females have the gestation period of around 40 to 42 days and she give birth 1 to 8 leverets at a time and in a year they can mate and gave birth three times.
Hare Appearance
There are 32 species of hare that exists and they differ from each other in appearance as well. Although each species of hare is larger than rabbit in size and they have powerful and strong legs that help them jump around 3 meters. Here are some of the species of hare and their appearance.
- Snowshoe Hare – They have large furry feet which helps them to move in snow and they have hind legs. They have white fur but their white fur changes into brown during the summers, in total 10 weeks their fur color change completely. They weigh around 2 kg and have a height around 18 to 20 inches.
- European Hare – They are also known as brown Hare as they have brown color fur, they are bigger and leaner than rabbit. They have long legs and long ears with black tip. They weigh 4 kg and stand around 70 cm.
- Arctic Hare – These hare are perfectly adapted to live in the icy biomes. They have short limbs and ears combined with small nose; along with these they have thick white fur that helps them to remain warm in such cold condition.
Life Span
Average lifespan of the hare is around 5 to 8 years, but it varies among the species of hare such as snowshoe hare has only 1 year of average lifespan while lifespan of arctic hare is around 5 year and scrub hare live 5 to 7 years in wild.
Shedding
Hares usually change their coat color twice but instead of shedding, the term used for this process is molting. In molting, hare loses its fur and in place of old fur, new fur of different color grows. During the molting, hare needs fresh grass, clean water and more.
Hare Characteristics
- Hares have great vision and can be able to view a panoramic view of 360 degree that also helps them to locate the predators
- They are pretty fast runner and can run at a speed of 72 km per hour and not only running they also jump more than 10 feet by ease
- They are also known as pretty great swimmers
- Hares are shy animals, and they are swift
- Males compete with each other by chasing to attain dominance
- They look similar with rabbits and eat the same diet.
