If you know about a number of factors, it will be very difficult to confuse a hare and a rabbit, as indicated by:
- behavioral characteristics;
- some aspects in raising young animals;
- Lifestyle.
It is impossible to see a wild rabbit on the Eurasian continent, but hares are very a large number of. They inhabit forests, fields, steppes, feeding plant foods. Hares were spread by European explorers by traveling around different countries. The habitat of wild rabbits extends to North America and Africa.
Appearance
The main similarities between hares and rabbits are the presence of long ears, short tail, strong limbs and the specific structure of the incisors. That, in fact, is all the similarities, and the differences are as follows:
- hares have a larger build;
- A rabbit remains the same color throughout its life, but hares change color: the color of the skin depends on the time of year. IN winter time the wool becomes snow-white, and in summer and spring - dark gray;
- due to the burrowing lifestyle that rabbits lead, nature has rewarded them with less long ears(due to a long time spent in a small space);
- hares jump and run a lot, which made the limbs of these long-eared animals longer, but rabbits, due to the structural features of their paws, can perfectly dig holes and passages underground.
Habitats
You can meet a hare everywhere, with the exception of Australia and some other islands. But rabbits live only in North America and Africa.
The latter are characterized by the construction of large underground tunnels, which can be compared with apartment building. As soon as a new baby is born, a new nook is immediately made for it. The only subspecies in this group are American wild rabbits, who live outside the burrows.
It is completely unusual for hares to be so careful about their places of residence. Most often they use abandoned burrows or can dig a temporary den. Where it will be located directly depends on the weather. In the warm season, you can meet a hare in a sunny place, in the rain it will be in a secluded den, and when there is a drought, it will prefer to rest in the lowlands. With the onset of cold weather favorite place beds become haystacks.
Lifestyle
It was mentioned above that rabbits prefer to live in burrows. One hole is used by a whole family, where there are young and adult animals. As necessary, the holes expand and new passages are formed. Long-eared animals leave such comfortable housing when immediate danger arises.
Hares are characterized by nomadic behavior single image life. Animals form pairs only to procreate. The young are born in any secluded place that the female finds.
Reproduction
Another major difference is reproduction. For breeding, only comfortable ones are suitable for a hare. climatic conditions. Therefore, rabbits can appear at any time of the year. Females reach physiological maturity by the age of one year and are able to bear offspring 4 times a year. If we talk about the timing of pregnancy, then the hare carries babies for 45 days. Up to four cubs are born, which have vision, hearing and primary coat. The peculiarity of young animals is that they can immediately eat solid types of feed.
Rabbits have high fertility, with a gestation period of just over 30 days. After the rabbits are born, the female will feed them for a month. Newborns are born blind, deaf and bald. They can live like adults only after reaching 25 days of age.
Behavioral features
Hares are characterized by endurance and a love of freedom.
They are perfectly capable of living in the forest and have special skills that help them hide from natural enemy, is the ability to run and jump quickly.
Rabbits have a more flexible character, and it is quite easy to tame such an animal so that you can then keep it at home.
When danger arises, rabbits warn their brothers with special sounds or by knocking their paws on the ground. Dug holes provide excellent shelter.
Subtleties of caring for young animals
The described species treat their offspring completely differently. The hare abandons her babies almost from the moment they are born. The hares are fed by other females who find them. This happens because young animals are born to many females at the same time in a nearby territory, and the babies do not have an individual smell.
The rabbits have excellent maternal instinct, and they care for the young. Preparation for childbirth begins during pregnancy, which involves building a nest. But if the rabbit meets someone else’s baby, she may try to get rid of him. It is unusual for female rabbits to feed other people's children.
This is the different attitude of females of the described species to their offspring.
Is it possible to crossbreed?
Despite some external similarity, animals have different genetic codes. Due to the difference in the number of chromosomes, hybrids cannot be obtained. All crossbreeding experiments were unsuccessful. In addition, hares and rabbits are very different aggressive behavior in relation to each other.
Natalia
How is a hare different from a rabbit?
The rabbit and the hare are brothers. After all, both of them are representatives of the order Lagomorpha. Visually, these animals are very similar, and there are many similarities in their habits. But still they are such distant relatives that they are not able to interbreed with each other. This means that they have more differences than kinship.
Running ability
Both animals flee from danger or predators. But if hares are known as very nimble, fast, playful, then rabbits are very inferior to them in speed. And the manner of movement is also very different. The former are excellent sprinters, while the latter are much slower. They do not run, but simply move quickly or jump. Having noticed the danger, rabbits may freeze in place from fear. The reason for such differences is obvious: hares have strong and long hind legs, in rabbits they are short and not suitable for running.
Attention! average speed a hare is 70 km/h, a wild rabbit is 54 km/h, a domestic rabbit is 20 km/h.
External distinctive features
First of all, rabbits look much more massive because they weigh much more. The average domestic animal weighs 9-10 kg. A hare, for example, weighs 4-6 kg, and white hare weighs no more than 5 kg. It is easy to distinguish animals by the length of their ears: in rabbits they are much narrower and shorter.
During seasonal molting Hares change the color of their fur coat. They are white in winter and dark in summer. Rabbits also molt twice a year, but the animal's color remains the same. Rabbits - both wild and domestic - are more massive in body constitution. But the hares are elongated and skinny.
Features of behavior
Many people believe that rabbits exist only in domesticated form. But that's not true. Wild rabbits also live in nature. And there they actively dig holes. But hares are not tied to a specific habitat; they often change their sleeping quarters and move around different territories. Wild rabbits are assigned to a specific area and are reluctant to leave it.
Difference in reproduction
Rabbits are very fertile animals, they give birth to all year round. Hares are very dependent on their living conditions, so they mate only during favorable periods, when there is plenty of food and the climate allows them to raise babies. In our latitudes, hares traditionally give birth from late spring to early autumn. Duration of pregnancy:
- Female rabbits remain pregnant for 30-32 days.
- Hares carry babies for 44-45 days.
Rabbit and hare
A significant difference is also noticeable in children. Rabbits are born blind and naked. They are still attached to their mother for a long time. And the hares are born sighted, with short fur. Little bunnies are very independent and start leading early adult life without mom.
As we can see, even though hares and rabbits only seem to be close relatives. In fact, they are very different from each other. And their similarities are very slight.
Domestic hare: video
What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit? Not everyone can answer this question. The fact is that these cute furry animals are very similar to each other. And it is not always possible to accurately determine where one is and where the other is.
Someone will say that hares and rabbits are the same thing, only the former are wild, and the latter have been tamed. It's not like that at all. Both hare and rabbit can be wild. There is also a misconception that both of these animals are rodents. Yes, they love to chew carrots, but they are not rodents (like mice, hamsters, etc.). They have their own classification - these animals belong to
And what do they have in common? It seems that these questions concern many. So you just need to figure it out. Let's get started.
There are not as many similarities between them as it might seem at first glance. similar physical structure, taste preferences, common dangers and enemies. And, perhaps, that’s all. There are many more differences.
Geography of distribution
IN wildlife The hare can be found in almost every corner of our planet. The only exceptions are the remote islands and Australia. The fact is that most The territory of the earth was filled with hares due to the fact that they were specially brought from the European continent.
Rabbits are much less common. Their habitat is the North and, of course, they can be found in other places, but mostly as pets.
Appearance
How does a hare differ from a rabbit in appearance? It would seem that they are so similar! But there are differences here too. Yes, they both have long ears, a short tail, fluffy fur and long teeth. But:
- the hare is much larger than the rabbit;
- a rabbit never changes its coat color, even in winter, unlike a hare, which begins molting at the beginning of winter (at such moments the hare’s fur turns from gray to snow-white);
- a rabbit's ears are shorter, since he spends most of his life in closed, confined spaces;
- the hare has longer and stronger legs, since it is much more mobile than the rabbit, which prefers digging minks to running.
Behavior
The difference between a hare and a rabbit is also noticeable in how they prefer to fight danger. The hare is fast and agile. And also very nervous. When he smells a wolf or fox, he begins to run away. Hares are much faster than rabbits. It's all about the structure of the skeleton, namely the hind limbs. The hare's hind legs are much longer and stronger. However, he can only go down the mountain head over heels, and a rabbit, which has a more proportional structure of its legs, will calmly run down any slope. But at a straight distance the hare will give you a hundred points ahead in speed.
Rabbits are calmer and more balanced than their wild relatives. They prefer to eat and relax. They can do this all day long. So if you have a rabbit, you can limit its diet yourself. These animals are very lazy, but not shy. When danger approaches, the rabbit will not run away. He will quickly dig a hole and hide in it. Moreover, these animals dig with such speed that you are simply amazed! Here he was, but here he is not.
Offspring
Of course, both the rabbit and the hare reproduce. The difference here is speed and quantity. The rabbit is very homely. He will never live alone, only with his rabbit. They live and reproduce, reproduce, reproduce...
Rabbits bear offspring much faster than hares. Pregnancy lasts up to 32 days. In one litter, a female rabbit produces from 10 to 16 babies. They are all born blind, naked and helpless. And usually for the first two weeks they live exclusively on mother’s milk. Female rabbits are very caring with their offspring and are absolutely intolerant and aggressive towards other people's cubs. They can even tear apart an unfortunate little rabbit that has wandered towards them. So it won’t be possible to place other people’s cubs among them without consequences.
Hare - complete opposite. He eternal bachelor. But, however, I don’t mind leaving my mark on this earth either. The offspring of hares are not as numerous as those of rabbits. Hares give birth to one, maximum two babies. Cubs are born fully formed. They already have fur, they hear, see and can calmly eat even adult food. The hare leaves such independent cubs under the same bush under which she gave birth. As a rule, he will give them some milk, which will be enough for three days, bury them in a hole and leave them at the mercy of fate. And the bunnies begin an independent life. If they are lucky and the fox does not discover their shelter, having become hungry, they begin to emit infrasounds that are inaudible to the hunter’s ear, but understandable to any hare running past. Her maternal instinct immediately awakens. The hare digs up the bunnies, feeds them milk and, like the mother... leaves them. And this is repeated with every female hare who happens to be nearby and who has also recently given birth.
By the way, hares and rabbits cannot be crossed with each other. Many breeders have tried to improve domestic rabbit breeds in this way. But their attempts did not yield positive results.
Taming
What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit? Because it cannot be tamed. Just like that. This is a real forest dweller and wild animal who loves freedom. In ancient times, people tried to breed bunnies in order to acquire valuable fur and tasty meat. But at the slightest opportunity, the animals ran into the forest.
Rabbits can be tamed. And easy enough. Therefore, today it is not at all uncommon when you can find this furry food lover as a pet.
So, it's time to sum up.
What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit?
- Firstly, the hare is much larger and faster.
- Secondly, it changes its color depending on the season, and the rabbit remains true to itself at any time of the year.
- Thirdly, he lives wherever he has to, even under a bush, and not in a warm hole. There is no permanent shelter.
- Fourth difference: the hare is a loner.
- The fifth difference is that female hares abandon their cubs to the mercy of fate, rabbits do not.
- Sixth, the cubs are born with fur, good hearing and vision, unlike their relatives.
- The seventh difference is that rabbits can be tamed, but hares cannot, no matter how hard you try.
05.10.2009
What is the difference between a rabbit and a hare?
Rabbits belong to the order Lagomorpha. Outwardly, they are similar to hares themselves, but there are a number of fundamental differences in behavior and biological features, and as a result - in appearance.
Hares are animals that are practically not tied to territory; they do not build burrows; rabbits on the other hand are very territorial, for a long time They use the same hole, improving it from year to year, adding additional passages and rooms. Due to the burrow life, ears and hind limbs shorter in rabbits. Rabbits run slower than hares, but are also nimble. In case of danger, the animal begins to meander towards the hole.
Another characteristic difference in reproduction. Hares are born sighted and fully formed, and can almost immediately consume food from adult animals. Hares do not care for their babies, they only feed them; Moreover, hares feed not necessarily their own cubs, but simply any they come across. If a mother feeds someone else's baby, she can only hope that another hare will feed her little hare. It's different with rabbits; baby rabbits are born naked, helpless with eyes closed. The female rabbit feeds and cares only for her babies; even in captivity, it is usually not possible to provide the female rabbit with other babies. Sensing someone else's scent, the female rabbit usually eats the offspring.
Unlike hares, rabbits are easily tamed. All attempts to domesticate hares have led nowhere. Rabbits, on the contrary, reproduce well in captivity, quickly get used to people, and in addition, they are more fertile than hares.
And now a little history. The cultural keeping of rabbits, in comparison with other farm animals, began quite late. For comparison guinea pig the Indians domesticated the rabbit before the Europeans; (it’s not even worth talking about cows, sheep, horses, dogs, etc.). The Romans kept hares in enclosures for their sake. delicious meat and sport hunting, but the hares quickly withered away and did not reproduce. Then Roman soldiers from Spain brought wild European rabbit, which turned out to be simple to maintain and easy to breed. Naturally, they stopped keeping hares, replacing them with rabbits. At first, the rabbits reproduced on their own, i.e. uncontrollably. The monks changed a lot; they started keeping rabbits in cages. The interest of monasteries in rabbits is explained simply. During long fasts, the monks try to diversify their menu as much as possible, and they did not consider embryos and newborn rabbits to be meat. The monasteries distributed rabbits and as a result: already in the 16th century the breeds were known, and in the 18th century in Germany there were rules for trading rabbit products.
Despite the fact that hares and rabbits are different animals, even experts often call rabbits hares.
Author: Skoptsova T.I.
Position: Associate Professor, Department of Private Animal Science
Place of work: Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Velikolukskaya State Agricultural Academy"
Natalia
How is a hare different from a rabbit?
The rabbit and the hare are brothers. After all, both of them are representatives of the order Lagomorpha. Visually, these animals are very similar, and there are many similarities in their habits. But still they are such distant relatives that they are not able to interbreed with each other. This means that they have more differences than kinship.
Running ability
Both animals flee from danger or predators. But if hares are known as very nimble, fast, playful, then rabbits are very inferior to them in speed. And the manner of movement is also very different. The former are excellent sprinters, while the latter are much slower. They do not run, but simply move quickly or jump. Having noticed the danger, rabbits may freeze in place from fear. The reason for this difference is obvious: hares have strong and long hind legs, while rabbits have short legs and are not suitable for running.
Attention! The average speed of a hare is 70 km/h, a wild rabbit is 54 km/h, and a domestic rabbit is 20 km/h.
External distinctive features
First of all, they look much more massive because they weigh much more. The average domestic animal weighs 9-10 kg. A hare, for example, weighs 4-6 kg, and white hare weighs no more than 5 kg. It is easy to distinguish animals by the length of their ears: in rabbits they are much narrower and shorter.
During the seasonal molting period, hares change the color of their coats. They are white in winter and dark in summer. Rabbits also molt twice a year, but the animal's color remains the same. Rabbits - both wild and domestic - are more massive in body constitution. But the hares are elongated and skinny.
Features of behavior
Many people believe that rabbits exist only in domesticated form. But that's not true. Wild rabbits also live in nature. And there they actively dig holes. But hares are not tied to a specific habitat; they often change their overnight accommodations and move around different territories. Wild rabbits are assigned to a specific area and are reluctant to leave it.
Difference in reproduction
Rabbits are very prolific animals; they give birth all year round. Hares are very dependent on their living conditions, so they mate only during favorable periods, when there is plenty of food and the climate allows them to raise babies. In our latitudes, hares traditionally give birth from late spring to early autumn. Duration of pregnancy:
- Female rabbits remain pregnant for 30-32 days.
- Hares carry babies for 44-45 days.
Rabbit and hare
A significant difference is also noticeable in children. Rabbits are born blind and naked. They are still attached to their mother for a long time. And the hares are born sighted, with short fur. Little bunnies are very independent and early begin to lead an adult life without their mother.
As we can see, even though hares and rabbits only seem to be close relatives. In fact, they are very different from each other. And their similarities are very slight.
Domestic hare: video
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