Hares

All 8 species of hares on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 59 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• Unlike the rabbit, it digs no burrow: it is born in a shallow scrape on the ground.

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• The young scatter individually during the day so as not to draw predators.

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• It can have three or four litters a year.

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• It turns white in winter to blend into the snow.

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• It moults to white in response to day length, not to snow: in increasingly mild winters it turns completely white against brown ground, a mismatch that ecologists call camouflage mismatch and that sends its mortality soaring.

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• The Alpine and Scottish populations are glacial relicts: they were left isolated on the summits when the ice retreated, and now have nowhere higher to go as the climate warms.

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• It changes coat from white to greyish brown with the seasonal day length, much as the Arctic fox does, to stay camouflaged all year.

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• In the far north of its range it stays white all year, while the more southerly populations moult to a greyish brown in summer.

Ecosystems