MadSci Network: Zoology
Query:

Re: What is the difference between a rabbit and a hare?

Date: Wed Dec 22 08:15:14 1999
Posted By: June M. Wingert , RM(NRM), Research Associate, Comparative Pathology Department, Baylor College of Medicine
Area of science: Zoology
ID: 945758272.Zo
Message:

Hi Kiran,

This is a very good question because most people often confuse rabbits and hares, but they are very different in several ways. Hares are generally larger, and have longer hind legs and longer ears than rabbits. When hares are born, they have a full coat of fur and their eyes are open. Their mothers either drop them on the bare ground at birth or into a slight depression in the ground. A young hare is called a leveret.

Rabbits, on the other hand, are more compact. Their young, called bunnies, are born hairless and blind. The mother rabbit lines a nest with grass, bark and soft stems. Over this, she places a layer of hair that she plucks from her own body. When she leaves the nest, she covers the bunnies with more hair and dead plants to keep them warm and hidden from enemies.

Rabbits and hares both molt and then grow new hair. This happens in both the spring and in the fall. Rabbits' brown summer fur is replaced with fur that is greyer. Hares, especially those living in cold, snowy regions, turn white in the winter.

Rabbits and hares are more active during the dark hours from dawn to dusk. Rabbits hide in either burrows or depressions in the ground during daylight hours. They try to keep hidden. Hares hide among plants and usually try to escape enemies by running.

Rabbits are often found together. Male rabbits even fight within a group to become the dominant male. The dominant male rabbit then mates with most of the females in the area. Hares live most of the time by themselves. They come together in pairs for mating only. There is little or no fighting among hares. They just pair off. The link below provided the information on rabbits and hares.

http://www.alienexplorer.com/ecology/m101.html

Check out the following for more information and links to other bunny sites!
http://www.geobop.com/Mammals/Lagomorpha/Leporidae/2.htm
http://www.san-marino.k12.ca.u...mer98/rabbithares/frances.html
http://www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Nature/Living_Things/Animals/Mammals/ Rabbits_and_Hares/

Check out these reference entries which describe the characteristics and behavior of the hare,rabbit, and jackrabbit.
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=0442A000
http://cnet.windsor.ns.ca/Environment/Advocates/Anim/rabbit.html

Thankyou for taking the time to send in a question to the MadSci Network

June Wingert


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