European Hare

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European Hare

The European Hare or Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) is a species of hare

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Very young hares, less than one year old, are called leverets....
native to northern, central, and western Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and western Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
.

It is a mammal adapted to temperate open country. It is related to the similarly appearing rabbit

Rabbit

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Encyclopedia

The European Hare or Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) is a species of hare

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Very young hares, less than one year old, are called leverets....
native to northern, central, and western Europe

Europe

Asia

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genus in the family taxonomy as rabbits, including the European rabbit , Cottontail rabbit , and the Amami 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

Herbivore

Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism, known as an herbivore, heterotrophs principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
. 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

Orchard

An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food agriculture. Orchards comprise fruit tree or nut -producing trees grown for commercial production....
farmers.

Normally shy animals, hares change their behaviour in spring, when they can be seen in broad daylight chasing one another around meadows. 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 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

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known bird of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas....
and carnivorous mammals like the Red Fox

Red Fox

The Red Fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora. In the British Isles, where there are no longer any other native wild canids, it is referred to simply as "the 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

Broom Hare

The Broom Hare is a species of hare endemic to northern Spain. It is restricted to the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain between the Sierra de Ancares and the Sierra de Pena Labra....
in northern Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
.

Wild populations

The European Hare is now wild in Eastern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, South America, Australia, New Zealand and many islands including Tasmania, the Falklands, Barbados and Reunion.

The species was imported to North America from Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
by a farmer living near Cambridge, Ontario

Cambridge, Ontario

Cambridge is a city located on the Grand River and Speed River in the Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario, Ontario, Canada.History...
, Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
in 1912. It escaped from the farm, successfully colonised fields and woodland edges, and quickly made the "Jackrabbit" a common sight in southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, New York State and New England

New England

New England is a region of the United States located in the northeastern corner of the country, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and New York State, and consisting of the modern U.S....
where it is sometimes called the 'Eastern Jackrabbit'.

Natural predators such as eagle

Eagle

Eagles are large bird of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several Genus which are not necessarily closely related to each other....
s, owl

Owl

The Strigiformes are an order of bird of prey, comprising 200 species. Most are solitary, and Nocturnal animal, with some exceptions . Owls mostly hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish....
s, fox

Fox

A fox is an animal belonging to any one of about 27 species of small to medium-sized Canidae, characterized by possessing a long, narrow snout, and a bushy tail, or brush....
es, coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the prairie wolf, is a species of canid found throughout North America and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States, and Canada....
s, and bobcat

Bobcat

The Bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family, Felidae. With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern east Mexico, including most of the continental United States....
s, together with humans and dog

Dog

The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
s, have kept the American population under control. Hares have often been hunted

Beagling

Beagling is the hunting of hares, rabbits, and occasionally foxes with beagles. A beagle pack is usually followed on foot. However, there is one pack of beagles in the U.S....
or coursed

Hare coursing

Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with Greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight and not by scent. It is a competitive sport, in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game....
for sport.

"Jackrabbit

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Very young hares, less than one year old, are called leverets....
" in American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
usage (attested in 1882) more specifically refers to the closely related Black-tailed Jackrabbit

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

The Black-tailed Jackrabbit , also known as the Desert Hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level to up to 10,000 feet ....
(Lepus californicus) and the White-tailed Jackrabbit

White-tailed Jackrabbit

The White-tailed Jackrabbit , also known as the Prairie Hare and the White Jack, is a hare found in western North America. The jackrabbit is now extirpated from the Yellowstone National Park ....
(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

Eostre

Eostre or Eastre is the name of an Anglo-Saxon paganism goddess attested by the seventh-century Benedictine monk Bede's De temporum ratione ....
, and a connection lives on in the Easter Bunny

Easter Bunny

File:Hase mit Ostereiern .jpgThe Easter Bunny is a mythical character depicted as an anthropomorphic rabbit. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with colored eggs, candy and toys to the homes of children on the night before Easter....
celebrations. In Holland, Belgium and some other European mainland countries, it still is the Easter Hare rather than the Easter Bunny.

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