Watch about hares, the difference between a hare and a hare. The white hare animal: a brief description with photos and pictures, where it lives, what it eats, tracking a white hare in winter, hunting video. Video: forest tales about the hare

If we answer the question of how a hare differs from a rabbit, briefly, we can say: size and behavioral characteristics. In fact, despite their external similarity, these animals are very different in their lifestyle, geographical distribution and many other characteristics.

The hare and rabbit have some similarities, but there are more differences between them.

In appearance and in their lifestyle, hares and rabbits have quite a lot in common:

• They have similar features appearance and body proportions, since they belong to the same order of lagomorphs.
• These are crepuscular animals that lead an active lifestyle after sunset.
• In terms of diet, they are herbivores - they feed on herbs, roots, vegetables, tree bark and other plant products.
• The natural enemies of hares and rabbits are the same - they are predatory animals, predator birds and man.
• Finally, the similarity lies in the manner of movement of a hare and a rabbit - they run fast, are able to make high jumps on the spot and from a run, and quickly change direction.
• As for defense, they can bite hard thanks to their sharp front teeth or scratch with their claws and run away.

These similarities are quite general in nature, since if you analyze the details of behavior and features of movement, you can immediately detect several differences that explain why they are classified into different families of the same order of lagomorphs.

Differences between a hare and a rabbit in appearance

Strong differences are associated with size and body weight: hares are 2-3 times more massive than wild rabbits (3-6 kg and 1.5-2.5 kg, respectively). And domestic rabbits, due to the peculiarities of their conditions of detention, can reach a weight of up to 8-10 kg.

The main differences in appearance are presented in the table.

Interesting! Both molt. In the case of hares, the color of the coat is clearly different: in winter with light tones, in summer with darker tones. The differences in rabbit fur color are almost invisible.

Differences between animals in running speed

The hind legs of rabbits are much shorter than those of hares. This explains the differences associated with behavioral patterns in the face of an immediate threat: hares run away without thinking, and very often it is thanks to their speed that they manage to escape.

Rabbits usually try to literally freeze, to become invisible against the general background of grass and trees. However, there are also cases when they run away in the same way as hares.

The running speed of animals is very different: if hares are capable of reaching up to 50-70 km/h, then rabbits cannot run faster than 25 km/h.

Differences between a hare and a rabbit in lifestyle

The main difference between a hare and a rabbit in lifestyle is that the hare is a loner and a nomad. He often moves across vast spaces and is not tied to any particular place. Hares do not build houses and sleep wherever they can.

Rabbits are true family animals; they live in entire colonies. They are sedentary, carefully choose the safest territory and settle there in large groups. At the same time, rabbits are able to build good, deep burrows in the roots of strong trees, ravines and other natural shelters.

While hares come into close contact only during the breeding season, rabbits always stay in flocks. At the same time, hares give birth to cubs only in favorable times. climate period(spring-summer), and rabbits can breed at other times.

Differences between animals in relation to offspring

Interestingly, baby hares, unlike baby rabbits, are born almost independent:

• they are able to move on their paws already in the first hours;
• rabbits are always covered with their own fluff;
• their eyes are immediately open.

That's why maternal instinct rabbits are much more developed to a lesser extent than that of a female rabbit. In most cases, the hare abandons her cubs literally within the first day after their birth.

However, the bunnies do not die - they simply get used to an independent lifestyle. This is also facilitated by the fact that in the womb they develop within 45 days, while rabbits take 30-32 days.

Interesting! Female hares give birth to offspring at approximately the same time. At the same time, the hares do not have a unique scent of their own, as is always the case with the offspring of rabbits. Therefore, they feed on milk from almost all females, who simply do not distinguish their babies from strangers.

Where do hares and rabbits live?

The habitats of hares and rabbits overlap in many ways, but there are also differences:

• The wild rabbit (it was he who was domesticated and gave rise to all domestic rabbits) lives almost everywhere in Europe - from the Mediterranean to the British Isles and central Russia. His distinctive feature– the animal does not settle in Scandinavia (Sweden, Finland, Norway), where the white hare lives. On the other hand, the wild rabbit lives in all areas of Australia and New Zealand, where the hare is not found at all, and the brown hare prefers to settle only along the narrow coastal strip of the eastern part of the continent (it was brought there by people).
• The brown hare is found naturally in the same areas of Europe and Russia as the wild rabbit. It was introduced not only to Australia, but also to the southern regions of South America, as well as to the eastern United States.
• The white hare lives literally everywhere in Russia (including the Far North), as well as in Scandinavia and the British Isles. Their animal prefers not to settle further south.

Thus, both hares and wild rabbits can be found in middle lane Europe and Russia. The hare loves the northern regions, and the hare loves the warmer southern ones. The wild rabbit also lives in Australia, unlike white hares, which are not found at all in the southern hemisphere.

Crossing a hare and a rabbit

By analyzing the difference between these animals, one can discover fundamental genetic differences between them: hares have 24 pairs of chromosomes, and rabbits have 22. This practically eliminates the possibility of their crossing with the appearance of normal, healthy offspring.

Experiments were also conducted on the artificial insemination of female rabbits and hares from male hares and rabbits, but they did not produce results. Therefore, this question can be answered unequivocally: it is impossible to cross any type of hare with any type (breed) of rabbit.

Taming

The obvious answer to the question of what is the difference between a hare and a rabbit, at first glance, is that the rabbit is a domesticated animal, and the hare lives in the wild. However, this is a misconception: in nature you can find large colonies of wild rabbits that live both in Europe and in North America and even in Southeast Asia.

Numerous attempts to domesticate hares have failed, while wild rabbits have been tamed and many varieties of domestic breeds have been developed.

A hare and a rabbit are an example of obvious external similarities and at the same time great differences in lifestyle. That is why in agriculture and decorative breeding there is the concept of a domestic rabbit, and not a domestic hare.

Hares They are not rodents, as we often think, and they are not actually that harmless. This mammal shows aggression when threatened. We know about the white hare from fairy tales, but we remember little, what are the differences and similarities between hare and hare. Why are they so confused? Let's figure it out together, starting with the characteristics.

Description of the hare

Hare body length 68-70 cm, despite the fact that the body itself is slender and the sides are compressed. Weight can reach 7 kg! main feature – wedge-shaped ears, growing from 9 to 15 cm. It is thanks to long ears, hares have well-developed hearing, vision and a weaker sense of smell. Hind limbs They have long feet; in case of danger, their speed reaches 80 km/h. A sudden change in direction puts predators into a stupor; they climb slopes well, but go back down head over heels. Hare fur rough, but very warm, the color depends on the season of the year. In winter completely white fur Only the white hare wears it, which is where it got its name; in summer its color is gray. And only the tips of the ears remain dark in color, which looks very beautiful. Hare lifespan 5 years, but the female can live up to 9, in in some cases, hares live up to 12-14 years.

How does a white hare differ from a brown hare?

Because many of us are confused hare and hare, we will tell you about the similarities and differences between these hares.

Similarities:

1. Both hares

2. Lead a sedentary lifestyle

3. Gray fur in summer

4. They eat only plant foods.

5. They don’t stock up for the winter.

Differences:

1. The brown hare is larger in size

2. The hare is completely white in winter, only the tips of the ears remain dark, and the hare only becomes lighter.

3. The hare lives only in the forest, while the hare lives in gardens, meadows, steppes, and arable lands

4. The hare has wide paws adapted to snow

5. The hare's ears are noticeably shorter than those of the hare, and they are colored with a dark dot

6. The hare has wavy fur, the hare has smooth fur

7. The hind legs of the hare are much shorter than those of the hare

8. The hare has a wedge-shaped and long tail, the hare has a short and rounded tail.

9. In winter, the hare feeds on aspen and willow, while the hare feeds on oak and maple bark

FOOD AND HABITAT OF THE BLACK HARE

What does the hare eat?

Undoubtedly, the hare's nutrition depends depending on the time of year. In winter, for example, they cause extreme damage to trees and shrubs by feeding on their bark. They also dig up crops in the snow. But a hare cannot be called a vegetarian! In the northern regions it was discovered that hares were attacking partridges.

In summer time hare eats various plants like clover, dandelions and many other herbs. Branches and leaves of young trees and shoots of bushes are perfect. It is unlikely that a hare refuses vegetables, especially when located near villages where you can profit from cabbage and carrots.

Where does the white hare live?

Where do our fairy-tale creatures live?

The White Hare has spread almost all over Russia! But it can also be found in different countries our world, for example, in Ireland, in Mongolia, in Northern Europe And South America. Belyaka Can't be confused with anyone! Yes Yes! After all, only he dresses in all white in winter. Hares live in open forest and steppe landscapes, in fields and meadows, on forest edges. They do not go deep into the forest, preferring to live close to people, because there is something to profit from there. They are active in the evening and at night, but during the day they sit out in their burrows.

VIDEO: FOREST TALES ABOUT THE BLACK HARE

IN THIS VIDEO YOU WILL LEARN A LOT OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING ABOUT THE BLACK HARE, AND YOU CAN ALSO SHOW THIS TRANSMISSION TO CHILDREN

Practical work: “Study of the morphological characteristics of the species. Studying the diversity of type criteria"

Goal of the work: determine whether it is possible to morphological characteristics judge whether an organism belongs to a certain type; be able to use the criteria of a species to characterize it.

Progress:

1. Consider the proposed plant samples.

Write down the data on the morphological structure of plants in a table, make a morphological characteristic of two plants of the same genus. (using the description of plants at the end)

Draw conclusions about the reasons for the similarities and differences.

Anemone oak grove Anemone buttercup

1. From the text, select sentences with certain type criteria. Enter the serial numbers of the sentences in the third column of the table.

White hare and brown hare

1. The genus of hares itself, which includes the hare and hare, as well as 28 other species, is quite numerous. 2.The most famous hares in Russia are the hare and the hare. 3. White hare can be found in the territory from the Northern coast Arctic Ocean to the southern border of the forest zone, in Siberia - to the borders with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia, and on Far East- from Chukotka to and North Korea. 4. The hare is also widespread in the forests of Europe, as well as in eastern North America. 5. The hare lives on the territory European Russia from Karelia, south of the Arkhangelsk region to the southern borders of the country, in Ukraine and Transcaucasia. 6. But in Siberia, this hare lives only in the south and west of Lake Baikal.

7.Hare got its name thanks to its snow-white winter fur. 8.Only the tips of his ears remain black all year round. 9. The hare in some northern areas also becomes very light in color towards winter, but it is never snow-white. 10.And in the south it does not change color at all.

11. The hare is more adapted to life in open landscapes, since it is larger than the hare and runs better. 12. At short distances, this hare can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h. 13. The white hare’s paws are wide, with dense pubescence, so that they are less likely to fall into loose forest snowdrifts. 14.And the hare’s paws are already open places snow is usually hard, compacted, “trodden down by the wind.”

15. White hare body length - 45-75 cm, weight - 2.5-5.5 kg. 16. The ears are shorter than those of a hare. 17.The body length of the hare is 50-70 cm, weight up to 5 (sometimes 7) kg.

18. Hares usually breed twice, and in the south three or even four times a year. 19. White hares can hatch two, three, five, or seven hares, while brown hares usually have only one or two hares. 20. Browns begin to try grass two weeks after birth, and whites even faster - after a week.

Taxon: Ranunculaceae family

Oak anemone (Anemone nemorosa).

Description. Perennial herbaceous plant of the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). It has a horizontal, cylindrical, smooth rhizome that branches and grows quickly. Thanks to this, the plant forms dense thickets. The stem is erect, sparsely pubescent, 10-25 cm high.
Leaves are thrice dissected. The basal leaf is single (or not at all) long-petiolate. Stem leaves on short petioles, collected three in a ring. Peduncles are solitary with one flower at the end. The flowers are white, light pink or purple, usually with six (maybe 7 or 8) ovate petals, 20-30 mm in diameter. Blooms in April - May.
Fruit ripening in June. The fruit is an oblong, short-haired achene with numerous seeds. Oak anemone prefers shady areas with loose soil fertile soil. Grows in forests (mostly broad-leaved), among shrubs. Propagated vegetatively and by seeds.
The plant is distributed in Western Europe, Mediterranean, in the forest zone of the European part of Russia. There are about 150 species of anemone. In most species of this plant, the petals easily fall off when the wind blows. The most common species are oak, forest, and buttercup. The plant is poisonous!

Anemone buttercup
Anemone ranunculoides

Anemone buttercup is a perennial herbaceous plant with a long, creeping, well-developed rhizome of a dark brown color, from which several scale-like leaves on long petioles extend. The stem is from 10 to 30 cm in height, erect, glabrous or sparsely hairy. The leaves are semi-leathery, three-lobed, deeply heart-shaped at the base, often covered with a purple bloom below. The flowers are bright yellow, with three small, sepal-like, green involucre leaves and 6 blue, petal-like sepals; corolla is underdeveloped; There are many stamens and pistils. Pollinated by rainwater: this occurs when the erect perianth is filled with water, on the surface of which pollen grains float. Externally, anemone flowers are a little reminiscent of buttercup flowers. When the anemone blooms, forest trees and the bushes are just beginning to bloom. At this time there is a lot of light in the forest. After the trees are covered with foliage and the forest becomes dark, the development of the anemone ends. It begins to turn yellow, the stem with leaves withers and falls to the ground. At the beginning of summer, no traces of the plant remain. Only in the soil is a living rhizome preserved, which gives rise to a new shoot with leaves and a flower the following spring. The fruits are achenes with a short curved nose. Blooms in April-May. Anemone is dangerous for animals only in its fresh form. The fruit is an achene.

The white hare (lat.Lepustimidus) is a mammal from the order Lagomorpha.

The body weight of this animal ranges from 1.6-4.5 kg. The ears are 7-10 cm long, the tail is short, round in shape, averaging about 7 cm.

The white hare has wide paws. The feet and the space between the toes are densely covered with hair. The color of the white hare's fur varies depending on the season: in summer the animal is gray or reddish-gray, and in winter it is white with slight black spots on the tops of the ears.

Shedding occurs twice a year: in autumn and spring, depending on changes in duration daylight hours and average daily temperature. In regions where there is little snowfall, hares do not change color. Female white hare are usually slightly larger than males.

Lifestyle of a hare

The white hare is active in the evening and predawn. In summer the animal does not make special shelters for itself, but in winter it can dig a small hole in the snow in which it hides daytime or in bad weather.

White hare lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, living on average on an area of ​​10-15 hectares. If there is plenty of food, the hare does not travel even two kilometers during the night. However, in search of food, the white hare is able to travel long distances - up to 10 kilometers in one night.

White hare feeding

White hare is a herbivore. Its summer diet consists of green parts of the majority herbaceous plants- this can be clover, all kinds of cereal grasses, dandelion leaves and flowers, yarrow and many medicinal plants growing in the territory it occupies. In winter, it is more difficult for an animal to find food for itself.

At this time, white hare feed on the bark of some deciduous trees, such as birch, willow, aspen, sometimes immature branches of bushes. Dry grass, and even cedar cones, are taken out from under the snow and eaten. They can wander into private estates and gnaw the bark of fruit trees.

The winter diet may also include dry berries remaining on the branches of bushes. There have been cases where hares have dug up and eaten truffle mushrooms.

White hare breeding

Mating occurs in spring-summer period. Usually 5-7 hares are born, per in rare cases the number of cubs is 10-11. There may be 2-4 broods per season, depending on the amount of food and the age of the female. A female's pregnancy lasts on average 50 days. The cubs emerge sighted and ready to move independently. At first (8 days) they feed purely on mother’s milk, then little by little they try grass. After 14-15 days, the hares begin independent life and reach sexual maturity at 10 months. Life expectancy is 17 years, however, many individuals do not live even 5 years.

Habitat of the hare

The white hare lives near lands where there is plenty of food both in winter and summer. Place natural habitat are the illuminated edges of deciduous and mixed forests, thickets of bushes. It can hide in tall steppe grasses, in reeds near water bodies - in places rich in food and where predators cannot reach it.

Natural habitat of the white hare

How view of the hare distributed mainly in northern latitudes– boreal forests Northwestern Europe(northern Poland, Scandinavia, northern Great Britain, Sweden, Norway), in North America, in the European part of Russia, in the tundra forest zone throughout Siberia, Kamchatka and Sakhalin.

Within Ukraine, separate populations are found in Sumy, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions.

The number of white hare and the reasons for its change

In 2010, about two hundred individuals lived in Ukraine white hare species: the largest population (150 individuals) was found in the Sumy region, slightly less in the Rivne (30 individuals) and Chernigov (20 individuals) regions.

Reasons for population decline in Ukraine:

• warmer climatic conditions;
• poaching;
• increase in the number of predators (mainly foxes);
• deforestation.

Despite their kinship and some external similarities, hares and rabbits are still distant relatives of each other. They have much more differences than they have in common. Even at the genetic level, the difference is noticeable: a hare has 48 chromosomes, and a rabbit has 44. In this regard, it is impossible to carry out interspecific hybridization.

Also, all attempts to domesticate hares were unsuccessful. They are absolutely not tamed. While rabbits are one of the popular pets and children's favorites.

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Geography

Snowshoe hare in winter

Hares inhabit all continents except Antarctica. They have adapted to living from the tundra and forest-tundra zones to the savannah and jungle. During the period of European colonization of new lands, hares were brought to other parts of the world, where they quickly took root.

The rabbit population includes 20 species that are native to the New World and the African continent. Rabbits can be found in a number of European regions. Together with the settlers, they ended up in Australia, where they quickly multiplied and caused enormous damage to the local ecological system and farming.



Grebe bird (Grebe) - description, lifestyle

Appearance



External differences between a hare and a rabbit

Externally, the appearance of long-eared rodents shows common characteristic features:

• long ears;
• small tail;
• protruding large incisors on the upper jaw;
• muscular long hind limbs.

However, upon careful examination, it becomes clear how a hare differs from a rabbit.

Thus, it is not difficult to visually distinguish two representatives of the order Lagomorpha.



Mustang - a wild horse of the American prairies: description, lifestyle

Character and behavior



Galloping brown hare

Rabbits have a calm, easy-going disposition. They are easily tamed and quickly adapt to new living conditions. In case of danger, the animal begins to dig a hole to hide in it. Usually the underground dwelling is very branched, with several exits. When fleeing average speed 20 km per hour.

Hares are extremely shy. They are always on guard. At the slightest disturbing noise they immediately run away. Their long hind legs do not allow them to jump down from the hill and they roll head over heels. The speed of movement reaches 70 – 80 km per hour.



Lifestyle



Rabbit at the entrance to the hole

Hares in wildlife They lead a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving from place to place. They prefer to live alone and come together for a short time only during the mating season.

Long-eared rodents are crepuscular animals that stay awake and forage in the dark.

Rabbits form permanent pairs. The whole family settles in burrows they dig in the ground. They try to go out to feed at night.

The life expectancy of hares is 8-9 years, and that of rabbits is 7 years.

Reproduction



Newborn rabbits are completely helpless

Hares are highly fertile. Reproductive age begins at 1 year. During the year, the female is capable of giving birth up to 4 times. The duration of pregnancy is 45 days. Childbirth does not have a clear connection to the season; it occurs from March to September. Babies are born in field conditions. They are immediately adapted to independent life: they are sighted, covered with fur, and run fast. The mother feeds the newborn with milk and abandons him. If the bunny meets another female, she will also give him milk. During 1 birth, 2–4 cubs appear.