Haresandjackrabbitsaremammalsbelonging to thegenusLepus.They areherbivores,and livesolitarilyor in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young areable to fend for themselves shortly after birth.The genus includes the largestlagomorphs.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 theLepusgenus are considered true hares, distinguishing them fromrabbitswhich make up the rest of theLeporidaefamily. However, there are five leporid species with "hare" in their common names which are not considered true hares: thehispid hare(Caprolagus hispidus), and four species known asred rock hares(Pronolagus). Conversely, severalLepusspecies are called "jackrabbits", but classed as hares rather than rabbits. The pet known as theBelgian hareis adomesticated European rabbitwhich has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.[2]
Hares are swift animals and can run up to 80 km/h (50 mph) over short distances.[3]Over longer distances, theEuropean 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 (calledbucks) to attaindominancefor breeding. During this spring frenzy, animals of both sexes can be seen "bo xing", 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 (calleddoes) toward males to prevent copulation.[8][9]
Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares, like allleporids,have jointed, orkinetic,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 aspets.
Some rabbits live and give birth underground in burrows, with many burrows in an area forming a warren. Other rabbits and hares live and give birth in simple forms (shallow depression or flattened nest of grass) above the ground. Hares usually do not live in groups. 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 henceprecocial,able to fend for themselves soon after birth. By contrast, rabbits arealtricial,being born blind and hairless.[12]
Easily digestible food is processed in the gastrointestinal tract, expelling the waste as regular feces. For nutrients that are harder to extract, hares, like alllagomorphs,ferment fiber in thececumand expel the mass ascecotropes,which they ingest again, a practice calledcecotrophy.The cecotropes are absorbed in the small intestine to use the nutrients.[1]
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 area 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 spelledHasenfeffer) is a traditionalGermanstewmade from marinated rabbit or hare.Pfefferhere means not only the obvious spicing with pepper and other spices, but also means a dish in which the animal's blood is used as athickening agentfor the sauce. Wine or vinegar is also a prominent ingredient, to lend a sourness to the recipe.
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.
The hare (and in recent times, the rabbit) is a staple ofMaltese cuisine.The dish was presented to the island's Grandmasters of theSovereign Military Order of Malta,as well as RenaissanceInquisitorsresident on the island, several of whom went on to becomepope.
According toJewish tradition,the hare is among mammals deemed notkosher,and therefore not eaten by observant Jews. Muslims deem coney meat (rabbit,pika,hyrax) to behalal,and inEgypt,hare and rabbit are popular meats formulukhiyah(juteleaf soup), especially inCairo.[17]
The blood of a freshly killed hare can be collected for consumption in a stew or casserole in a cooking process known asjugging.First theentrailsare removed from the hare carcass before it is hung in alarderby 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 preventcoagulation,and then to store it in a freezer.[18][19]
Jugged hare, known ascivet de lièvrein 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) andport wine.[20][21][22][23]
Jugged hare is described in an influential 18th-century English cookbook,The Art of CookerybyHannah 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 theUKTV Foodtelevision 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.
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]
AEuropean brown harewas buried alongside an older woman in Hungary mid fifth millennium BC.
12Mountain haremetapodials were found in a Swedish grave from third millennium BC.
TheTolai hare(originally described as aCape hare,amended according to range) was tamed by northern Chinese people in the neolithic period (~third millennium BC) and fed millets.
The hare in African folk tales is atrickster;some of the stories about the hare were retold among enslaved Africans in America and are the basis of theBr'er Rabbitstories. The hare appears inEnglish folklorein 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]
The constellationLepusis 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]InEuropean witchcraft,hares were either witches' familiars or a witch who had transformed themself into a hare. Now pop mythology associates the hare with theAnglo-SaxongoddessĒostreas an explanation for theEaster Bunny,but is wholly modern in origin and has no authentic basis.[citation needed]
In European tradition, the hare symbolises the two qualities of swiftness[31]and timidity.[32]The latter once gave theEuropean haretheLinnaean nameLepus timidus[33]that is now limited to themountain hare.Several ancient fables depictthe Hare in flight;in one concerningThe Hares and the Frogsthey even decide to commit mass suicide until they come across a creature so timid that it is even frightened of them. Conversely, inThe Tortoise and the Hare,perhaps the best-known amongAesop's Fables,the hare loses a race through being too confident in its swiftness. InIrishfolklore, the hare is often associated with theAos síor other pagan elements. In these stories, characters who harm hares often suffer dreadful consequences.
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 fromChristianchurches in the English county ofDevonright back along theSilk Roadto 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,IslamicandBuddhistsites stretching back to about 600 CE.[34]
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 aScotsword for a hare.[35]
^Chapman, Joseph; Flux, John (1990).Rabbits, Hares and Pikas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan.IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), Lagomorph Specialist Group. p. 2.ISBN2831700191.
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Edwards, P. J., M. R. Fletcher, and P. Berny.Review of the factors affecting the decline of the European brown hare, Lepus europaeus (Pallas, 1778) and the use of wildlife incident data to evaluate the significance of paraquat.Agriculture, ecosystems & environment79.2-3 (2000): 95-103.[3]
Vaughan, Nancy, et al.Habitat associations of European hares Lepus europaeus in England and Wales: implications for farmland managementJournal of Applied Ecology40.1 (2003): 163-175.[4]
Smith, Rebecca K., et al.Conservation of European hares Lepus europaeus in Britain: is increasing habitat heterogeneity in farmland the answer?Journal of Applied Ecology41.6 (2004): 1092-1102.[5]
Reid, Neil.Conservation ecology of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus).Diss. Queen's University of Belfast, 2006[6]
Natasha E. McGowan, Neal McDermott, Richard Stone, Liam Lysaght, S. Karina Dingerkus, Anthony Caravaggi, Ian Kerr, Neil Reid,National Hare Survey & Population Assessment 2017-2019,[report], National Parks and Wildlife Service. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, 2019-11,Irish wildlife manuals,No.113, 2019[7]
Kane, Eloise C.Beyond the Pale: the historical archaeology of hare hunting, 1603-1831.Diss. University of Bristol, 2021.[8]
Reid, Neil.Survival, movements, home range size and dispersal of hares after coursing and/or translocation.PloS one18.6 (2023): e0286771.[9]
