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The Hare

At first glance it is easy to mistake a hare for a rabbit, particularly at a distance. The best way to tell the difference is by the hare's longer, black-tipped ears, and longer, more muscular hind legs. Both hares and rabbits have a split lip, or hare-lip, although there are slight differences. A rabbit's top lip is split up to the nostrils, but has a layer of skin to cover the gums. A hare's top lip is split so that the gums are visible. As a result, the top 'buck' teeth may protrude, particularly in old age.

Comparing a hare with a rabbit

The hare digs a shallow resting hollow or "form" out of a moss hummock on the bog, which it lies in during the day. The form is dug out slightly more at one end than the other - the deeper end accommodates the hare's large and powerful hind quarters. The form is usually orientated so that the hare can sit with its back against the wind.

The hare lives out in the open from the moment of birth. To keep warm it has a thick coat, which is white on the underside and reddish-brown above, flecked with tawny gold, black and white to camouflage it. Like a rabbit it has a sensitive nose and a split or hare-lip. The average life-span of a hare is two and a half years. Hares are not, as a rule, sociable; but they do show an intense interest in each other during the mating season. Groups of individuals, consisting of several males called jack-hares, will pursue a female (doe) in a chaotic, free-for-all display. During their dispute over the doe the jacks have boxing matches. They rise up on their hind legs, box and batter each other with their forepaws and turn in circles with their hind legs thumping the ground.

Breeding behaviour
The jack-hare is ready to mate before the doe - in early January, and continues through to September. He roams large areas of the countryside in search of a doe and, when he finally finds one, has quite a job persuading her to mate. Courtship technique is very much like that of a buck (male) rabbit; the jack pursues his female everywhere. He has to compete in a boxing match with others for the same doe; but even when he has won a doe he seldom stays with her for more than a day or two. This is, however, often long enough to ensure successful mating.

The jack then continues his roaming existence in search of more females. By contrast the doe has a more settled life. She has a fixed home range in which she rears her family. The first litter is usually born at the end of February and the last as late as mid-October. Litter sizes increase through the season, probably as a direct result of more food being available, usually from 3 to 5 leverets in each.

Birth
The doe gives birth to all her young (leverets) in one place and moves them to different nests or forms, often some distance apart, after a few days. About an hour after sunset the mother hare visits, in turn, each of her offspring hidden in its form.

The extent of the doe's maternal care is limited to one short suckling period lasting a maximum of three minutes per visit. A doe may even suckle young other than her own. This happens when the leverets are two or three weeks old and beginning to be more adventurous. Quite often two or three gang up together from different families in the neighbourhood. But as long as one leveret in the group is hers, a mother will not begrudge feeding both her own and those of her neighbour.

Chances of survival
From the moment of birth, hares live out in the open. For the first weeks of their life, the leverets instinct is to lie completely still in their 'milking forms'. Like most mammals born in the open, leverets have a coat of fur and are soon fully mobile. This is in complete contrast to rabbits, which are born naked, blind and helpless in the security of a burrow.

Leverets have no such security and have to be fully prepared for life in the open. Hidden in their form, a shallow depression in long grass, the leverets must lie absolutely still; being born in the open they have little choice if they are to escape the notice of foxes or birds of prey flying overhead.
They soon start to move about to feed on grassy plants and at this stage may fall victim to foxes. Something like 50% of leverets die before they are a month old, because of predators and the effects of exposure. Does have several litters a year to compensate for the rate of mortality.

To escape from predators the adult hare relies on its highly sensitive hearing to pick up the sound of any approaching danger a long way off. Keeping a sharp watch it will then run away as fast as possible if danger threatens. A rabbit, however, does not detect predators until they are much nearer - and doesn't need to because its burrow is usually only a short dash away. Since the hare's hind legs are much longer and more muscular than those of a rabbit they can power a hare to 35 miles per hour and enable it to jump a height of 2m. The hare tends to move in a leapfrog motion with its hind legs landing in front of its forelegs. This is particularly pronounced at speed, when the stride may be as much as 4.5m. The hare's heart is very strong (much stronger than a rabbit's) and this certainly contributes to its phenomenal stamina. A hare can run up to four miles without tiring; it can also swim if it has to.

The hare's large eyes have a very glassy quality. The eyes are on the side of the head and so give good widefield vision; they can also look backwards. Sometimes, when being chased, the hare will run straight into a net or other object, since it suffers from a blind spot immediately in front.

Tracks and signs
The hare's tracks are easily recognisable by the long prints made by the hind legs and the smaller, rounded foreleg prints. The larger size of these tracks distinguishes them from a rabbit's. If the prints are fresh and clear, you can see four toe prints on the forepaws and four on the hind paws.

Catherine O'Connell