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Rachel Heugly
Analysis of Female Reproductive Tract Abnormalities in European Hares in Australia
Original text written by Philip Stott and Nicole Wight (Stott&Wight, 2004)
Summary written by Rachel Heugly

Introduction:
The population of the European hare (Lepus europaeus) in recent years has been rapidly
diminishing. This hare has a potential life span of 13 years in the wild (Broekhuizen, 1979).
However, the average life span is about 2.5 years (Marboutin&Peroux, 1995). The population of
the hares is directly impacted by the number of breeding jills (adult female hares). Hares mature
quickly and a jill can reproduce in the first year of life. Other factors which affect the population
include: the number and sizes of the litters each jill kindles (gives birth) in a breeding season and
survival rate of leverets (babies). Another major factor is infertility and old age that remove jills
from the breeding pool. This article focuses on the reproductive abnormalities in adult jills in
Australia.
Materials and Methods:
From 1996 to 1999 Hunters submitted carcasses of jills which were shot on the Volcanic
Plains of western Victoria, the Monarto plains of South Australia, and the Chowilla Floodplain of
South Australia. The Volcanic and Monarto regions are agricultural regions and the Chowilla
region is natural and free of crops and pastures. The carcasses were divided into two age groups
(omitting those younger than 6 months, as they are not sexually mature) 6-12 months and >12
months. The jills were carefully and methodically dissected and results and observations were
documented. Some parts of the reproductive system were preserved for further examination later.

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When some lesions were found on the reproductive systems of the hares, samples of does (adult
female rabbits) were acquired from the same regions to compare.
Results:
Of 245 examined jills, 51 expressed reproductive abnormalities, 110 were pregnant, and
38 were infertile. Of these, 33 jills showed lesions in the uterus and 25 showed cysts in the
uterine horns (diagnosed as cystic endometrial hyperplasia). There were also a few outlining
cases involving pseudopregnancy (2), endometriosis (2), focal endometrial venous congestion
(2), and 2 macerated fetuses in the uterine horn (1), and 3 mummified fetuses (1). 37 jills showed
uterine and/or oviduct lesions and none of them were pregnant. They were determined to be at
least temporarily infertile due to the lesions.
They found 29.9% of female hares >12 months to be infertile. However, only 2.8% of 612 month hares were infertile. Presumed infertility was 46% in the Monarto Plains population
and 26.3% in the Volcanic Plains population, but none of the 19 older females in the Chowilla
Flood-plain Population was judged to be infertile. (Stott&Wight, 2004).
In the does, very few reproductive abnormalities were recorded. Only 3 of the 80 does
showed any abnormalities.
Conclusions:
The dominant abnormality discovered in the experiment was cystic endometrial
hyperplasia. However, the prevalence of lesions in oviducts and uterus may mean that the
abnormalities share a common etiologic (cause or origin) agent or agents. (Stott&Wight, 2004).
The lack of abnormalities of the jills in the Chowilla Flood-plain region implies that
much of the abnormalities may be caused by the difference in vegetation and/or chemical agents
used to treat the pastures and crops in the other two regions. The Monarto and Volcanic Plains

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have pastures in which agricultural chemicals are used. Some of these chemicals are known to
have estrogenic activity (Jobling&Reynolds&White&Parker, 1995). Further, most of the
conditions described above have been shown to have some relationship to estrogenic
stimulation. (Stott&Wight, 2004). With these findings we can assume that much of the
reproductive abnormalities seen in the European hare are likely due to the chemicals used on the
pastures from which they graze.

References
Broekhuizen. (1979). Survival in adult European hare. Acta Theriologica 24, 465-473.
Jobling&Reynolds&White&Parker. (1995). Avariety of environmental persistant chemicals,
including some pthalate plactizers, are weakly estrogenic. Environmental Health
Perspectives, 582-587.
Marboutin&Peroux. (1995). Survival pattern of European hare in a decreasing population.
Journal of Applied Ecology 32, 809-816.
Stott&Wight. (2004). Female reproductive tract abnormalities in European hares (leprus
europaeus) in Australia. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 696-703.