RABBITS AND HARES: CHARACTERISTICS, BEHAVIOR, HUMAN CULTURE

RABBITS, HARES, LEPORIDS AND LAGOMORPHS

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Rabbits, hares and pikas belong to their own group the lagomorphs. They are similar to rodents except alongside their two large chisel-shaped teeth at the front of their mouths — a rodent characteristic — they have two smaller teeth, one on each side of the large pair These sharp incisors grow continuously like rodent front teeth. These are used to chop off grasses and other vegetation with a distinctive, clean, angled stroke. There are currently 108 lagomorph species recognised by science, Found on all continents except Antarctica, they are the evolutionary cousins of rodents and sit very closely to our primate branch in the tree of life.[Source: Emma Sherratt, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Adelaide, The Conversation, Published: January 19, 2023; “Life of Mammals” by David Attenborough]

Hares and rabbits are leporids, members of the family Leporidae, which are characterized by their long ears, large hind legs, and ability to move swiftly. Leporids are found almost worldwide. A male rabbit is called a buck. A female is called a doe. Young are called bunnies, kits or kittens. A group is called a colony or warren. A baby hare is called a leveret.

Both hares and rabbits have long front teeth, long ears and short back legs for running and jumping. The two kinds of animals look very similar and telling them apart can be difficult. A jack rabbit is actually a hare. The Belgian hare is really a rabbit. Hares and rabbits are prey for many animals including lynx, hawks, owls, wolves and foxes. They reproduce quickly and thus produce a reliable food source except when their populations suddenly crashes as does happen in some places at some times. To escape from predators hares and rabbits rely on speed, their leaping ability, and ability to dart around in an unpredictable way. Some rabbits can leap 20 feet in a single bound.

Rabbits and hares along ground squirrels and voles were among the first animals to move from forests to grasslands when climate changes occurred in prehistoric times. David Attenborough wrote : But it was not only leaf-eaters that ventured out of the forests on to the newly established grasslands. Hunting mammals — cats and dogs, both big and small — followed them. Hawks and eagles flew out from their nests in forest trees to patrol the skies above. Out on the open plains, there were far fewer places for leaf-eaters to shelter than there had been in the forest. Rabbits, voles and ground squirrels were able to create hiding places for themselves. They excavated burrows and flourished in vast numbers. [Source: “Life of Mammals” by David Attenborough]

Rabbit meat is very popular in some countries in Europe. It usually sold cut up or frozen like chicken and is fried or roasted. Fryer rabbits are usually slaughtered when they are two months old. Older ones are sold as roasters. Rabbit fur is used make lining for clothes. Angora rabbits are famous for their soft wool. According to PETA: Rabbits are slaughtered by the millions for meat, particularly in China, Italy, and Spain. Once considered a mere byproduct of this consumption, the rabbit-fur industry demands the thicker pelt of an older animal (rabbits raised for meat are killed before the age of 12 weeks).(5) The United Nations reports that at least 1 billion rabbits are killed each year for their fur, which is used in clothing, as lures in flyfishing, and for trim on craft items. [Source: People for the Ethical Treatment (PETA)]

Differences Between Hares and Rabbits

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Hares are larger heavier and lankier and have longer and thinner ears and bodies than rabbits. With its longer legs it can out jump a rabbit and move much faster (a European brown hare has been clocked going 45 mph). A rabbit’s fur stays the same color year-round. A hare’s coat often changes from grayish brown in summer to white in winter.

Hares prefer simple above-ground nests while all rabbits except cottontails dig holes and live in underground burrows. Rabbits are social, regional animals that like living n groups. They escape danger by going underground. Hares tend be loners, living alone or in pairs. They escape danger by running away. One of the main difference between rabbits and hares is that rabbits have dens and hares don't. Hares, as a result, are faster and have sharper senses to protect them from predators.

Hares give birth to two or three litters a year. Young hares are born with their eyes open and fur and are ready to take care of themselves. They can see and hop around soon after birth. Rabbits have many litters. They go through much more trouble to take care of their young. Young rabbits are born helpless and blind with their eyes closed and lack fur. Their mother shelters them in a fur-lined nest. Hares don’t make a nest. Female European hares are only receptive for a few hours every six weeks. Males fight aggressively for their attentions. The females often pick the most persistent males.

Brenna Maloney of the National Zoo in Washington D.C. told the Washington Post, “Hares are generally more aloof, more prone to stress. They don’t make as good pets.” European rabbits are sociable creatures who often live in communities called warrens made up a number of interconnected underground dens. The warren is usually led by a matriarch and her offspring and their offspring and their offspring.

Hare and Rabbit Feeding and Digestion

Lagomorphs are completely vegetarian, and have evolved a unique system for extracting the maximum nutritional value from coarse plants. The food is first passed through their digestive system and discharged as soft feces. The rabbits and hares eat these, These are then reingested and passed through again, emerging as the dry round pellets that you see in clusters all over their feeding grounds. The way rabbits digests leaves thus involves eating their own droppings., When they are asleep in their burrows at night they excrete black sticky pellets from their anus. These are consumed to go through a second round of digestive processing. The second round are excreted outside the den after the rabbit wakes up.

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David Attenborough wrote : Rabbits have their own particular way of digesting leaves. As they doze in their burrows at night, they excrete black sticky pellets, but as soon as these emerge from the anus, the rabbit turns round, takes them. into its mouth and swallows them. Back in its stomach the pellets are given a second digestive processing. What is left after this is then voided a few hours later when the rabbits are feeding outside their burrows. [Source: “Life of Mammals” by David Attenborough]

Rabbit food such as grass and leafy weeds is high in cellulose and difficult to digest. Chewed plant material collect in an area of the digestive tract called the cecum, The cecum contains bacterial colonies that partly break the cellulose down. When the soft feces are ingested they are eaten whole and digested in a special part of the stomach, If they only ate their food once they wouldn’t absorb enough nutrients.

Hares and rabbits feed at night—which is why most people with pet rabbits have never seen them eat their poop—and stay in their nests during the day. They rabbits have strong chisel-like front teeth and are gnawing animals like rats, mice and squirrels. They have sensitive hearing and smell.

Why and How Do Rabbits Breed So Rapidly

Rabbits reproduce as rapidly as they do because of their short gestation period, large litter sizes, their ability to become pregnant again shortly after giving birth and the fact they mature quickly and can breed at a young age. Short pregnancies and gestation period allowing for multiple litters per year. Rabbits are induced ovulators, meaning they ovulate only upon mating. This allows them to become pregnant again very soon after giving birth. Rapid reproduction is an evolutionary strategy for rabbits, as they are prey animals and need to produce a large number of offspring to ensure some survive to adulthood.

The average female rabbit becomes sexually mature at three to eight months of age and can conceive at any time of the year for the duration of her life. During mating, the male rabbit insert his penis into the female from behind, make rapid pelvic thrusts until ejaculation, and throw himself backward off the female. Copulation lasts only 20–40 seconds. The saying “mad as a March hare” was inspired by the seemingly crazy behavior of breeding wild rabbits. Receptive for just a few hours every six weeks, female European hares fending off overeager males with high leaps and bounds. A doe’s final pick is often the most persistent male. [Source: Wikipedia, National Geographic]

The rabbit gestation ranges from 27 to 30 days. A longer gestation period generally yields a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods yield larger litters. The size of a single litter can range from 1 to 12 kits, depending on species. After birth, the only role of males is to protect the young from other rabbits. Mother leave their young in the nest most of the day, returning to nurse them once every 24 hours. The female can become pregnant again as early as the day after giving birth.

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Snowshoe Hares

Snowshoe hares turn from brown to white in the winter and back to brown again after the snow melts. They live in the far north and mountainous areas have a 10 year population cycle. The numbers of predators that feed on them—lynx, owls and foxes—rise and crashes with them. Snowshoe hares are found throughout Canada and in the northernmost United States. The range extends south along the Sierras, Rockies, and Appalachian mountain ranges.

Snowshoe hares range in length from 41.3 to 51.8 centimeters (16.3 to 20.4 inches), of which 3.9 to 5.2 centimeters (1.5 to 2 inches) is tail. The hind foot, long and wide, measures 11.7 to 14.7 centimeters (4.7 to 5.7 inches) in length. The ears are 6.2 to 7 centimeters (2.4 to 2.7 inches) from base to tip. Snowshoe hares usually weigh between 1.43 and 1.55 kilograms (3.1 to 3.4 pounds.Males are slightly smaller than females, as is typical for members of the rabbit family. In the summer, the coat is a rusty or grayish brown, with a blackish line down the middle of the back, buffy sides and a white belly. The face and legs are cinnamon brown. The ears are brownish with black tips and white or creamy borders. During the winter, the fur is almost entirely white, except for black eyelids and the blackened tips on the ears. The bottoms of the feet are covered with thick fur, with stiff hairs (forming the snowshoe) on the hind feet. [Source: University of Michigan School of Education, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology biokids.umich.edu/]

The diet of snowshoe hares is variable. They eat many different kinds of grasses, small leafy plants, and flowers. The new growth of trembling aspen, birches and willows is also eaten. During the winter, snowshoe hares forage on buds, twigs, bark, and evergreens. They have been known to scavenge the remains of their own kind in the winter months. At all times, it is important for hares to eat a certain type of feces that they produce. Because much of the digestion of food occurs in the last portion of their gut, in order to get all of the available nutrients from their food, they must cycle it through their digestive system a second time. /

Breeding season for snowshoe hares runs from mid-March through August. Pregnancy lasts 36 days. When labor approaches, female hares become highly aggressive and intolerant of males. They go to a birthing area, where they have prepared an area of packed down grasses. Females give birth to litters of up to 8 young, although the average litter size is usually two to four young. Litters born late in the season tend to be larger than litters born in the spring. Females may have up to four litters a year, depending on enviromental conditions. Males and females become mature within a year of their birth. /

“Young snowshoe hares are born fully furred and able to move around. The young hide in separate places during the day, only coming together for 5 to 10 minutes at a time to nurse. The female alone cares for them until they are weaned and ready to go off on their own, about four weeks after they are born. In the wild as much as 85 percent of snowshoe hares do not live longer than one year. Individuals may live up to 5 years in the wild. /

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Snowshoe Hare Behavior

Snowshoe hares are typically solitary, but they often live near many other hares, and individuals share overlapping home ranges. They are active at low light levels and so are most often seen out and about at dawn, dusk, and during the night. They are also active on cloudy days. During the daylight hours, hares spend a great deal of time grooming, and they take occasional naps. They are most active along pathways, trampled down "roads" in the vegetation that the hares know very thoroughly. Hares like to take dust baths. These help to remove parasites, such as fleas and lice, from the hares' fur. [Source: University of Michigan School of Education, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology biokids.umich.edu/]

Snowshoe hares have excellent hearing, which helps them to identify approaching predators. They are not particularly vocal animals, but may make loud squealing sounds when captured. When fighting with each other, these animals may hiss and snort. Most communication between hares involves thumping the hind feet against the ground. /

Snowshoe hares are experts at escaping predators. Young hares often "freeze" in their tracks when they sense a predator nearby. They are trying to escape notice by blending in with their background. Given the hare's background-matching coloration, this strategy is quite effective. Older hares are more likely to escape predators by fleeing. At top speed, a snowshoe hare can travel up to 27 mile per hour. An adult hare can cover up to 10 feet in a single bound. In addition to high speeds, hares use skillful changes in direction and vertical leaps, which may cause a predator to misjudge the exact position of the animal from one moment to the next. Snowshoe hares are also good swimmers. They occasionally swim across small lakes and rivers, and they have been seen entering the water in order to avoid predators. /

Climate Change Making White Hares More Vulnerable to Predators

Climate change is disrupting the natural timing of snowshoe hares' coat color changes, leading to a mismatch between their fur and their environment.Snowshoe hares rely on camouflage, turning white in winter to blend with snow and brown in summer to blend with the ground.

Climate change is causing snow to melt earlier and snow cover to become less reliable, altering the natural timing of spring and summer. Hares may be turning brown in winter before the snow melts, making them more visible to predators or may be white in summer when there is no snow. This mismatch can lead to increased predation rates and potentially affect the hare population.

This mismatch can increase their vulnerability to predators and affect their survival. Studies have shown a correlation between decreased snow cover and increased days with mismatched color in hares. Analyses of snowshoe hare populations in North America reveal that the probability that a snowshoe hare will be hunted and killed by a predator in any given week increases by between seven and 14 percent when the hare is wearing its white winter coat on a snowless background. “It’s something that doesn’t sound like a lot,” Marketa Zimova, assistant professor of biology at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, told National Geographic, but when you extrapolate it across the entire year, “it can have really profound consequences,” [Source: Cal Flyn, National Geographic, February 15, 2023]

Endangered Rabbits

Emma Sherratt wrote: In 2013, researchers found that more than two-thirds of rabbit species were already threatened by climate change. Since then, the number of species that are endangered or critically endangered has risen from 13 to 16 on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. The rabbits need our help.

On two subtropical islands in southwestern Japan live Amami rabbits (Pentalagus furnessi), sometimes referred to as a “living fossil” because they have primitive characters like small ears and legs better for scurrying than hopping.Almost black, Amami rabbits inhabit dense tropical forests, and are sadly endangered. This species is unusual among lagomorphs in having only one — rarely two — offspring in a litter. This breeding habit is fitting to an island species with no carnivorous predators (think New Zealand birds). Until, of course, some are introduced. To combat snakes, Indian mongoose were introduced on the islands in 1979, which inevitably found the rabbits to be a tasty treat. Authorities are now working on a mongoose eradication program to save the endemic rabbits and birds from extinction. [Source: Emma Sherratt, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Adelaide, The Conversation, Published: January 19, 2023]

See Amami Rabbits Under MEDIUM-SIZED MAMMALS IN JAPAN: FOXES, LARGE BATS, RABBITS, HARES, FOLKLORE factsanddetails.com

In the Annamite Range mountains of Vietnam and Laos lives another endemic rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi), striped in black and reddish-brown. This endangered species is among the least understood rabbits, but we do know it’s under threat from intensive poaching. In the mountains of Mexico resides another endangered bunny — the volcano rabbit (Romerolgaus diazi). It is one of the smallest rabbit species in the world, in trouble due to the effects of cattle grazing and land conversion for agriculture.

There’s also the riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis), a majestic, reddish-colored rabbit from South Africa that inhabits the banks of rivers and streams. Critically endangered, this species faces not just the effects of climate change and habitat destruction, but another unexpected threat — other bunnies. In this case, camera traps have identified Lepus hares are the problem. When resources become scarce, competition is fierce. The hares are larger and generalist in nature. They can eat a broader diet and adapt to more varied environments, and are competitively displacing the riverine rabbits.

Even the European rabbit is in trouble The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is the only species of rabbit-kind to have been domesticated, and their expansive distribution across the world is a result of hungry humans who used them for food. But in their native range — the Iberian Peninsula — their numbers are dwindling. In fact, we need conservation action because these rabbits are a keystone prey species for the Iberian lynx, which is making its comeback from being the most endangered cat in the world. The recent European LIFE Iberconejo project has been set up for governance, recognising the need for a balance between rabbits in a healthy ecosystem and rabbits as agricultural pests.

Easter Bunny

Brent Landau wrote: It was only in the 17th century that a German tradition of an “Easter hare” bringing eggs to good children came to be known. Hares and rabbits had a long association with spring seasonal rituals because of their amazing powers of fertility. When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought this tradition with them. The wild hare also became supplanted by the more docile and domestic rabbit, in another indication of how the focus moved toward children. [Source: Lecturer in Religious Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, The Conversation, April 10, 2023]

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Alexandra Sifferlin wrote in Time: “The exact origins of the Easter bunny are clouded in mystery. One theory is that the symbol of the rabbit stems from pagan tradition, specifically the festival of Eostre—a goddess of fertility whose animal symbol was a bunny. Rabbits, known for their energetic breeding, have traditionally symbolized fertility. [Source: Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, April 1, 2015]

Katie Edwards wrote: The earliest reference to an egg-toting Easter Bunny can be found in a late 16th-century German text (1572). “Do not worry if the Easter Bunny escapes you; should we miss his eggs, we will cook the nest,” the text reads. A century later, a German text once again mentions the Easter Bunny, describing it as an “old fable”, and suggesting that the story had been around for a while before the book was written. [Source: Katie Edwards, Director, SIIBS , University of Sheffield The Conversation, March 24, 2016]

According to History.com: “According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs. Eventually, the custom spread across the U.S. and the fabled rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping.”

Playboy Bunnies and Christian Symbolism

In Christian art, rabbits are often associated with rebirth and resurrection. Katie Edwards wrote: In fact, the symbol of a circle of three hares joined by their ears has been found in a number of churches in Devon. Like much of our cultural "bunny” symbolism, the meaning of this image remains mysterious — and The Three Hares Project has been set up to research and document occurrences of the ancient symbol, examples of which have been found as far away as China. [Source: Katie Edwards, Director, SIIBS , University of Sheffield The Conversation, March 24, 2016]

Rabbits and hares have also been associated with Mary, mother of Jesus, for centuries. Their association with virgin birth comes from the fact that hares — often conflated mistakenly with rabbits — are able to produce a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first. Titian’s painting The Madonna of the Rabbit depicts this relationship. Mary holds the rabbit in the foreground, signifying both her virginity and fertility. The rabbit is white to convey her purity and innocence. Linking rabbits with purity and virginity is odd, however, since they’re also associated with prolific sexual activity, a reputation Hugh Hefner appropriated for his now infamous Playboy logo.

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Some folklorists have suggested that the Easter Bunny derives from an ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, concerning the fertility goddess Ostara (Eostre). The Encyclopedia Mythica explains that: Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse them she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly coloured eggs, which the Greek goddess gave to children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived. Indeed, in his 1835 book Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm states that “the Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara … Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the Christian’s God.”

The myth of Ostara, then, has become a popular theory for the derivation of the Easter Bunny — although it is a contested one. Either way, it seems that the association between the Easter Bunny and Ostara began with the 8th-century scholar the Venerable Bede in his work The Reckoning of Time. Bede said that our word “Easter” stems from “Eostre” (another version of the name “Ostara”). There is, however, no other historical evidence to support his statement.

Linking rabbits with purity and virginity is odd, however, since they’re also associated with prolific sexual activity, a reputation Hugh Hefner appropriated for his now infamous Playboy logo. Hefner claims that he chose a rabbit as the logo for his empire because the bunny is “a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping — sexy. First it smells you, then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking.” Hefner’s striking sexism aside, rabbits’ reputation for fecundity has also meant that they’ve been used as a symbol of fertility for centuries and have become associated with spring.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated June 2025

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