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Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus Lepus.
They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight Hares
depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves
shortly after birth. The genus includes the largest lagomorphs. Most are
fast runners with long, powerful hind legs, and large ears to dissipate
body heat.[1] Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia and North
America. A hare less than one year old is called a "leveret". A group of
hares is called a "husk", a "down" or a "drove".

Members of the Lepus genus are considered true hares, distinguishing

them from rabbits which make up the rest of the Leporidae family.
However, there are five leporid species with "hare" in their common
names which are not considered true hares: the hispid hare (Caprolagus
hispidus), and four species known as red rock hares (comprising
Pronolagus). Conversely, several Lepus species are called "jackrabbits",
but classed as hares rather than rabbits. The pet known as the Belgian
hare is a domesticated European rabbit which has been selectively bred
to resemble a hare.[2]
Scrub hare (Lepus saxatilis)

Scientific classification
Contents
Kingdom: Animalia
Biology
Differences from rabbits Phylum: Chordata
Classification Class: Mammalia
Food Order: Lagomorpha
Meat
The red rock hares
Family: are the four
Leporidae
Blood species in the genus Pronolagus. They
Genus:lagomorphs
are African Lepusof the family
Taming
Leporidae. Linnaeus, 1758
Folklore and mythology
In fiction Type species
In art Lepus timidus
Three hares Linnaeus, 1758
Place names
Species
See also
References See text
Further reading
External links

Biology

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Hares are swift animals and can run up to 80 km/h (50 mph) over short distances.[3] Over longer distances,
the European hare (Lepus europaeus) can run up to 55  km/h (35  mph).[4][5] The five species of jackrabbits
found in central and western North America are able to run at 65 km/h (40 mph) over longer distances, and
can leap up to 3 m (10 ft) at a time.[6]

Normally a shy animal, the European brown hare changes its behavior in spring, when it can be seen in
daytime chasing other hares. This appears to be competition between males to attain dominance for breeding.
During this spring frenzy, animals of both sexes can be seen "boxing", one hare striking another with its paws.
This behavior gives rise to the idiom "mad as a March hare".[7] This is present not only in intermale
competition, but also among females toward males to prevent copulation.[8][9]

Differences from rabbits

Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares, like all
leporids, have jointed, or kinetic, skulls, unique among mammals. They have 48 chromosomes,[10] while
rabbits have 44.[11] Hares have not been domesticated, while some rabbits are raised for food and kept as pets.

Most rabbits live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares live in simple nests above the ground, and
usually do not live in groups. Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do other leporids, but
rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form. Young hares are adapted to the lack of
physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. They
are hence precocial, so are able to fend for themselves soon after birth. By contrast, rabbits are altricial, having
young that are born blind and hairless.[12]

Classification

The 33 species listed are:

Genus Lepus[13][14]
Subgenus Macrotolagus
Antelope jackrabbit, Lepus alleni
Subgenus Poecilolagus
Snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus
Subgenus Lepus Hare

Arctic hare, Lepus arcticus

Alaskan hare, Lepus othus
Mountain hare, Lepus timidus
Subgenus Proeulagus
Black jackrabbit, Lepus insularis
Desert hare, Lepus tibetanus
Tolai hare, Lepus tolai
Subgenus Eulagos
Broom hare, Lepus castroviejoi Brooklyn Museum - California Hare -
Yunnan hare, Lepus comus John J. Audubon
Korean hare, Lepus coreanus
European hare, Lepus europaeus
Manchurian hare, Lepus mandshuricus

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Ethiopian highland hare, Lepus starcki

Subgenus Sabanalagus
Ethiopian hare, Lepus fagani
African savanna hare, Lepus victoriae
Subgenus Indolagus
Hainan hare, Lepus hainanus
Indian hare, Lepus nigricollis
Burmese hare, Lepus peguensis
Subgenus Sinolagus
Cape hare (Lepus capensis)
Chinese hare, Lepus sinensis
Subgenus Tarimolagus
Yarkand hare, Lepus yarkandensis
Incertae sedis
Tamaulipas jackrabbit, Lepus altamirae
Japanese hare, Lepus brachyurus
Black-tailed jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
White-sided jackrabbit, Lepus callotis
Cape hare, Lepus capensis
Corsican hare, Lepus corsicanus
Tehuantepec jackrabbit, Lepus flavigularis
Granada hare, Lepus granatensis
Abyssinian hare, Lepus habessinicus
European hare (above) and
Woolly hare, Lepus oiostolus mountain hare
Scrub hare, Lepus saxatilis
White-tailed jackrabbit, Lepus townsendii

Food

Meat

Hares and rabbits are plentiful in many areas, adapt to a wide variety of
conditions, and reproduce quickly, so hunting is often less regulated than
for other varieties of game. In rural areas of North America and particularly
in pioneer times,[15] they were a common source of meat. Because of their
extremely low fat content, they are a poor choice as a survival food.[16]

Hares can be prepared in the same manner as rabbits—commonly roasted

or parted for breading and frying.

Hasenpfeffer (also spelled Hasenfeffer) is a traditional German stew made

from marinated rabbit or hare. Pfeffer here means not only the obvious
Alaskan hare's skeletal system
spicing with pepper and other spices, but also means a dish in which the
(Museum of Osteology)
animal's blood is used as a thickening agent for the sauce. Wine or vinegar
is also a prominent ingredient, to lend a sourness to the recipe.

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Lagos stifado (Λαγός στιφάδο)—hare stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red
wine, and cinnamon—is a much-prized dish enjoyed in Greece and Cyprus
and communities in the diaspora, particularly in Australia, where the hare
is hunted as a feral pest.

The hare (and in recent times, the rabbit) is a staple of Maltese cuisine. The
dish was presented to the island's Grandmasters of the Sovereign Military
Order of Malta, as well as Renaissance Inquisitors resident on the island,
several of whom went on to become pope.

According to Jewish tradition, the hare is among mammals deemed not

kosher, and therefore not eaten by observant Jews. Muslims deem coney
meat (rabbit, pika, hyrax) to be halal, and in Egypt, hare and rabbit are
popular meats for mulukhiyah (jute leaf soup), especially in Cairo.[17]
Young Hare, a watercolour, 1502, by
Albrecht Dürer
Blood

The blood of a freshly killed hare can be collected for consumption in a stew or casserole in a cooking process
known as jugging. First the entrails are removed from the hare carcass before it is hung in a larder by its hind
legs, which causes blood to accumulate in the chest cavity. One method of preserving the blood after draining it
from the hare (since the hare is usually hung for a week or more) is to mix it with red wine vinegar to prevent
coagulation, and then to store it in a freezer.[18][19]

Jugged hare, known as civet de lièvre in France, is a whole hare, cut into pieces, marinated, and cooked with
red wine and juniper berries in a tall jug that stands in a pan of water. It traditionally is served with the hare's
blood (or the blood is added right at the end of the cooking process) and port wine.[20][21][22][23]

Jugged hare is described in an influential 18th-century English cookbook, The Art of Cookery by Hannah
Glasse, with a recipe titled, "A Jugged Hare", that begins, "Cut it into little pieces, lard them here and there ..."
The recipe goes on to describe cooking the pieces of hare in water in a jug set within a bath of boiling water to
cook for three hours.[24] In the 19th century, a myth arose that Glasse's recipe began with the words "First,
catch your hare."[21]

Many other British cookbooks from before the middle of the 20th century have recipes for jugged hare. Merle
and Reitch[25] have this to say about jugged hare, for example:

The best part of the hare, when roasted, is the loin and the thick part of the hind leg; the other parts are
only fit for stewing, hashing, or jugging. It is usual to roast a hare first, and to stew or jug the portion
which is not eaten the first day. ...
To Jug A Hare. This mode of cooking a hare is very desirable when there is any doubt as to its age, as
an old hare, which would be otherwise uneatable, may be made into an agreeable dish.

In 2006, a survey of 2021 people for the UKTV Food television channel found only 1.6% of the people under 25
recognized jugged hare by name. Seven of ten stated they would refuse to eat jugged hare if it were served at
the house of a friend or a relative.[26]

In England, a now rarely served dish is potted hare. The hare meat is cooked, then covered in at least one inch
(preferably more) of butter. The butter is a preservative (excludes air); the dish can be stored for up to several
months. It is served cold, often on bread or as an appetizer.

Taming
No extant domesticated hares exist. However, hare remains have been found in a wide range of human
settlement sites, some showing signs of use beyond simple hunting and eating:[27]

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A European brown hare was buried alongside an older woman in Hungary mid fifth millennium BC.
12 Mountain hare metapodials were found in a Swedish grave from third millennium BC.
The Tolai hare (originally described as a Cape hare, amended according to range) was tamed by northern
Chinese people in the neolithic period (~third millennium BC) and fed millets.

Folklore and mythology

The hare in African folk tales is a trickster; some of the stories about the hare were retold among enslaved
Africans in America, and are the basis of the Br'er Rabbit stories. The hare appears in English folklore in the
saying "as mad as a March hare" and in the legend of the White Hare that alternatively tells of a witch who
takes the form of a white hare and goes out looking for prey at night or of the spirit of a broken-hearted maiden
who cannot rest and who haunts her unfaithful lover.[28][29]

Many cultures, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican, see a hare in the pattern of dark patches in the
moon (see Moon rabbit). The constellation Lepus is also taken to represent a hare.

The hare was once regarded as an animal sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido. Live hares
were often presented as a gift of love.[30] Now, the hare is commonly associated with the Anglo-Saxon goddess
Ēostre, and therefore pagan symbols like the Easter Bunny have been appropriated into the Christian tradition.
However, no primary sources support this belief, which seems to be a modern invention.[31]

In European tradition, the hare symbolises the two qualities of swiftness[32] and timidity.[33] The latter once
gave the European hare the Linnaean name Lepus timidus[34] that is now limited to the mountain hare.
Several ancient fables depict the Hare in flight; in one concerning The Hares and the Frogs they even decide to
commit mass suicide until they come across a creature so timid that it is even frightened of them. Conversely,
in The Tortoise and the Hare, perhaps the best-known among Aesop's Fables, the hare loses a race through
being too confident in its swiftness. In Irish folklore, the hare is often associated with Sidh (Fairy) or other
pagan elements. In these stories, characters who harm hares often suffer dreadful consequences.

In fiction

In art

Three hares

A study in 2004 followed the history and migration of a symbolic image of three
hares with conjoined ears. In this image, three hares are seen chasing each other
in a circle with their heads near its centre. While each of the animals appears to
have two ears, only three ears are depicted. The ears form a triangle at the centre
of the circle and each is shared by two of the hares. The image has been traced
from Christian churches in the English county of Devon right back along the Silk
Road to China, via western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Before its
appearance in China, it was possibly first depicted in the Middle East before being
reimported centuries later. Its use is associated with Christian, Jewish, Islamic
Dreihasenfenster (Window
and Buddhist sites stretching back to about 600 CE.[35]
of Three Hares) in
Paderborn Cathedral
Place names

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The hare has given rise to local place names, as they can often be observed in favoured localities. An example
in Scotland is 'Murchland', 'murchen' being a Scots word for a hare.[36]

See also
Lagomorpha portal

Lagomorpha

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one.net/~bill.deans/hare.htm). Archived from the original (http://website.lineone.net/~bill.deans/hare.htm)
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(June 2020). "Early commensal interaction between humans and hares in Neolithic northern China".
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Further reading
Windling, Terri. The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares. (https://web.archive.org/web/20171107031918/http://
www.endicott-studio.com/articleslist/the-symbolism-of-rabbits-and-hares-by-terri-windling.html)
William George Black, F.S.A.Scot. "The Hare in Folk-lore" The Folk-Lore Journal. Volume 1, 1883
Gibbons, J. S., Herbert, K., Lascelles, G., Longman, J. H., Macpherson, H. A., & Richardson, C. 1896. The
Hare: Natural history. [1] (https://archive.org/details/haremacp00macp)
Palmer, TS. Jack Rabbits of the United States 1896. Washington,: Govt. Print. Off.[2] (https://archive.org/de
tails/jackrabbits00tspa/page/n1/mode/2up)
Kane, Eloise C. Beyond the Pale: the historical archaeology of hare hunting, 1603-1831. Diss. University of
Bristol, 2021.[3] (https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.845189)

External links
BBC Nature section about hares (https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Hare)

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