Today we will talk about the most common types of hares. In Russia, the hare and hare are the most numerous, and there are also the Manchurian hare, tolai, hare-tumak, which is a cross between a hare and a hare and does not bring offspring. We are interested in the first two species, as they are most valued and most often found. Also, these species are often confused, consider their differences.
Types of hares: hare
The hare is a large species. It weighs from four to six kilograms, rarely, but still there are individuals whose weight reaches seven kilos. This is a rather long animal, an adult can be up to 68 centimeters. But for all its outward bulkiness, the physique remains rather fragile. The type of brown hare is characterized by long ears (up to 14 centimeters), by which it is easy to distinguish it from a white hare. The tail is also quite large (from 7 to 14 centimeters), wedge-shaped, brown or black on the upper side. The paws of the hare are longer than those of the hare, but the feet are shorter and narrower, since it lives in those placeswhere the snow cover is never too deep.
The appearance of the brown hare is very beautiful all year round. It has a brown, ocher-red, olive-brown, brown, ocher-gray or ocher-brown color in summer. The brown hair is variegated, shiny, twisted. The sides are noticeably lighter than the back, and the belly is completely white, without variegation and spots. There are light circles around the red-brown eyes of the hare, and the ears of this animal remain black all year round. In winter, the hare is slightly lighter than in summer, but never completely changes color, as does the hare.
The lifestyle and habitats of the hare
Various types of hares are found everywhere in all areas, in all territories. The hare is an inhabitant of the steppes, tundra, woodlands. He chooses mostly deciduous forests for his life and looks for a clearing or a burned area there. Very rarely, a hare can be found in a coniferous forest.
These hares like to populate areas closer to human settlements, rivers. They choose areas where human lands alternate with rare plantings, fields, mountains, reservoirs and networks of ravines. They mostly live in thickets of shrubs or a small hole adjacent to some tree, pond. Often hares populate burrows abandoned by foxes, badgers and other animals. In winter, hares dig rookery places in the snow, and these burrows can be up to two meters long. However, not only do hares winter in the steppe, they can lie in haystacks in autumn, and also dig a shelter in the territory adjacent to a person’s house.
During the summerRussians try to climb to a great height, go to the mountains, to high forests. Closer to winter, the hares descend back, trying to get as close as possible to the settlements.
The active time of day for the hares is night. At this time, they are engaged in feeding and can go several kilometers from their habitat. During the day, hare sleep in bushes or burrows. In inclement weather, these hares may not feed for several days, sitting in a dry and warm shelter.
The hare is perfectly adapted to run. It can reach speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour, moving in long leaps. Rusaki, like all types of hares, are very quiet animals. The female calls her offspring with quiet sounds, males can chatter with their teeth. They also often tap their paws, this is also their type of communication. Being wounded or caught, the hare begins to scream very loudly.
Nutrition and reproduction of the hare
In the summer, the hare eats a variety of things. He chooses young shoots of trees and shrubs, eats stems and foliage, and can dig up roots.
The second half of summer dilutes the diet with plant seeds that the hare distributes, since not everything eaten is digested. He likes to feast on dandelions, alfalfa, chicory and other plants. He is looking for berries, wild apples, but sometimes he climbs into human gardens, causing them tremendous harm. Also, the hare devastates the fields, his favorite delicacies are various cereals, buckwheat, sunflowers, cereal crops.
Unlike the hare, in winter this harecontinues to eat the remnants of grass, winter crops, seeds, vegetables left by people, which he pulls out of the ground. Also, he will not deny himself the pleasure of nibbling the bark from a pear and an apple tree, a willow, an aspen.
During the breeding season, a brown hare can bring up to five broods. In each brood there are from one to nine cubs, and they are born already covered with hair, sighted, weighing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty grams. Before giving birth, the hare arranges a small nest, covers it with grass. Having given birth, the female leaves and returns only once a day to feed the cubs. Sometimes she comes even less often, about once every four days. By the second week of life, rabbits begin to get out of the shelter on their own, they can eat grass. By four weeks, babies are completely independent and no longer need the help of their mother.
The meaning of a hare for a person
Russian hares, almost like all other types of hares, are quite numerous. They are a valuable animal for fishermen. They are mined for meat and skins, which are used to make fur products, felt.
But the hare is not only useful for humans, but also harmful. It greatly affects the yield, as it is very voracious and, once in the garden, can harm it. Rusaks dig up vegetables, eat berries, and in one night one hare is able to eat the bark from fifteen fruit trees, and after its attack, the plant may die or get sick for a long time.
Also, hare are carriers of numerous diseases. They are not only dangerous to themselves, but alsofor people and animals that hunt them, these are wolves, foxes, lynxes and eagles.
Hair hare: external view
The white hare is smaller than the hare. Its size reaches from forty-five to sixty-five centimeters, weight ranges from three and a half to five kilograms. The physique of this hare is not as fragile as that of a hare. The ears are also not so long, they are very neat, with black fur at the tips.
The white hare has powerful hind legs, quite long, and short front legs, like all other types of hares. You can see a photo of this animal in our article.
The white hare justifies its name by changing its coat for the winter period. In summer, it has a reddish-gray color and thanks to it it is perfectly camouflaged. It is in the summer that inexperienced hunters or unknowing people can call him a hare. In winter, this hare becomes snow-white, and it is almost impossible to notice it, only the black tips of the ears and eyes can give it away.
Habitats of hare
Unlike the hare, the white hare chooses wooded areas, avoids plains and open glades, swamps and too dense forest. Belyaks are sedentary animals and do not go very far from the place of their rookery. In winter, they rarely leave the territory at all, only the lack of food can make them move a long distance, for which they go to a world full of dangers.
Also, a hare can leave its habitual and habitable place due to drought or, conversely, floodingterritory.
Feeding hare
A hare eats, as well as a hare, at night. It feeds on grass in summer, various plants, shoots of shrubs and trees. In winter, the diet becomes scarce, and the white hare cannot eat only the bark of aspens and willows, it is looking for the bones of dead animals, horns shed by elks and deer. Otherwise, he eats the same as all types of hares.
Reproduction
A white hare gives birth to five to eleven rabbits in one lamb. They, like the Russians, immediately see that they are covered with fur. Unlike hare cubs, white hare can feed on their own by a week, and by two weeks they become independent.
The female gives birth to her offspring in the open area and only in winter can dig a small hole.
The white hare is also a game animal. Its fur and meat are more valued than the hare, so experienced hunters prefer to hunt this species.
