Brown Hare

Facts

IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)

Facts about this animal

There are differing views among taxonomists as to whether Lepus capensis and Lepus europaeus are two distinct species, or europaeus is just a subspecies of capensis. As they are very similar in appearance, body functions and behaviour, they are treated as one single species for the purposes of the Virtual Zoo.

An adult hare can reach a weight of 4 - 5 kg, with a head-body length of about 52 - 60 cm. It has a short, bushy, black and white tail, long, black-tipped ears (12 - 14 cm) and very long and powerful hind legs with four toes, strong claws and hairy soles. The fore limbs are much shorter and have five toes. The fur is brown with shades of black on the upper parts, underparts are white.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the reproductive season usually lasts from February to October with a peak in April-May. In non-pregnant females mating occurs at weekly intervals. Pregnancy lasts about 42 days. Up to 10 days before birth, the female may mate again, which can lead to superfetation, consequently to birth intervals shorter than 42 days. Females become sexually mature at about 6 months, they usually produce 3 to 4 litters per year with 1-5, mostly 2-3, leverets per litter.

Differently from rabbits, young brown hares, called leverets are born with fur and their eyes open, and are weaned after 2-5 weeks. They weigh 80-180 g at birth and live in a 'form' (a depression in the ground), under the cover of vegetation or rock outcrops.

The brown hare's diet consists mainly of grasses and herbs, with mainly grasses in summer, herbs in winter. Also buds, bark, twigs, particularly of fruit trees, and arable crops such as early stages of cereals are eaten, and there are isolated reports of hares catching and eating voles or other small mammals.

Did you know?
that it is only since 1944 that brown hares can be successfully kept and bred in human care? At that time, Heini Hediger, then Director of Basel Zoo, invented the "mirror cage", a set of two adjoining symmetric cages with the possibility of shifting the animals without stress from one compartment to the other. Shifting the hares every second day into a clean cage was necessary at that time when no effective coccidiostatics and anthelminthics were available.

Factsheet
Class	MAMMALIA
Order	LAGOMORPHA
Family	LEPORIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Lepus capensis/europaeus
Name (English)	Brown Hare
Name (French)	Lièvre brun
Name (German)	Feldhase
Name (Spanish)	Liebre europea
Local names	Afrikaans: Vlakhaas Croatian: (Europski) zec Czech: Zajíc polní Danish: (Europæisk) hare Dutch; (Europese) haas Estonian: Halljänes Finnish: Rusakko Greek: Lagós Hungarian: Mezei nyúl Italian: Lepre comune Polish: Zajac szarak Portuguese: Lebre-comum Romansh: Lieur brina Slovakian: Zajac pol'ný Slovenoan: Poljski zajec seTswana: Mutlwa Somali: Bakeyle Swedish: Fälthare Turkish: Bayagi tavsan
CITES Status	Not listed
CMS Status	Not listed

Photo Copyright by
Benjamint

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Lepus europaeus (yellow): Northern, central, western Europe and Asia, and the most northern parts of Africa. Lepus capensis (red): Africa, Middle East, Central and Eastern Asia. Introduced to Canada, USA, Central and South America and Australia.
Habitat	They prefer temperate open habitats like grasslands, often around agriculture fields and near woodland and hedgerows.
Wild population	Unknown, but numbers are declining in many countries, possibly due to modern farming methods.
Zoo population	L. europaeus: 18 reported to ISIS L. capensis: 4 reported to ISIS

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 79 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
Shal Jahan

Why do zoos keep this animal

Brown hares are usually kept for educational purposes because they are well-known to people as "Easter bunny" and from fairy tales, and have been anthropomorphised in movies such as Walt Disney's "Bambi", but less an less seen in the wild - at least in Europe. Of special interest are the differences between rabbits and hares, and the brown hare's reproductive physiology.

In a few instances, zoos have also made available brown hares for reintroduction or restocking projects.

How this animal should be kept

Brown hares are kept in predator-proof outdoor enclosures or aviaries. The minimum surface for a pair is 20 m², for each additional animal 4 m² more must be provided. It should be taken into account, however, that brown hares are not very social animals and, unless the enclosure is very large, it is not recommended to keep more than a pair together.

The bounds of the enclosure must be so designed as to minimise the risk of injury. Hares are fast runners and, in particular, in larger enclosures there is a risk of the animals breaking their neck when scared.

Hares do not feel comfortable if there is no cover. Therefore, the enclosure should be furnished with shrubs, small trees, logs and rocks.

The diet consists primarily of green fodder, hay, and vegetables. In addition branches should be offered for wearing the teeth.

Brown hares can be kept in mixed exhibits e.g. together with gallinaceous birds, pigeons or doves, small owls and passerines, or with ungulates such as roe deer, fallow deer or wild sheep.