Hares, rabbits and pikas

 

 

This European hare (Lepus europaeus), lying in its form (resting place), is well hidden, western Jutland, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was introduced to Britain almost 2,000 years ago, and today it is extremely common. This one is scratching its neck outside its den, Spey Valley, Scotland. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Large-eared pika (Ochotona macrotis), Gokyo Valley, Khumbu, eastern Nepal. It is feeding on leaves and flowers of Chesneya purpurea (Fabaceae), previously known as Spongiocarpella purpurea. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Together, hares and rabbits (family Leporidae), and the small, mouse-like pikas (family Ochotonidae), constitute the order Lagomorpha. They occur in a broad spectrum of habitats, including mountains, tundra, steppe, desert, scrubland, forests, swamps, littoral meadows, and farmland.

The family Leporidae contains 11 genera with about 70 species. Members occur naturally on all continents, except Australia and Antarctica, but some species have been introduced to Australia, where they constitute a huge ecological problem, outcompeting indigenous species.

The family Ochotonidae contains about 30 species, all placed in a single genus, Ochotona. The vast majority live in central, eastern, and north-eastern Asia, with 2 species occurring in western North America.

The term rabbit refers to all members of Leporidae, with the exception of the genus Lepus, whose members are usually called hares. Some American species, however, are known as jackrabbits due to their extremely long ears.

All 3 groups are predominantly vegetarians, but some hares are known to eat carrion, and some species of pika store dead migrant birds in their burrows, eating their brains during winter, when they need more energy, as they do not hibernate.

Most species of hare are solitary steppe animals, adapted to a life in open areas with scattered vegetation. They are characterized by their usually very long ears and long hindlegs. By standing on their hindlegs, they are often able to discover predators at a long distance, and then hide in dense vegetation, staying completely motionless. They often rest in the same spots, called forms. If detected, they are able to flee at a speed up to about 70 km per hour, and some species may jump sideways to break their scent trail.

The young are born with a complete fur and a good eyesight, and after giving birth in dense vegetation the mother leaves them, only returning a few times to feed them. They lie completely motionless, but naturally many are detected by predators, and some succumb to bad weather, for instance several days of rain. To compensate for the large mortality, female hares give birth to several litters a year.

Rabbits have shorter ears and shorter hindlegs than hares. Some species are social animals, living in extended family groups in burrows, called warrens. Other species hide in dense vegetation, just as hares do. The young are born hairless and blind, and they have to remain hidden for weeks in the burrows or in dense vegetation, before emerging into the open.

 

Lepus Hares
This genus contains about 33 species, native to Eurasia, Africa, and North America, including Mexico.

The generic name is the classical Latin term for hare.

 

Lepus californicus Black-tailed jackrabbit, American desert hare
Reaching a length of about 60 cm, and weighing up to 2.7 kg, the black-tailed jackrabbit is one of the largest North American hares. It is common from the north-western and central United States southwards to southern Baja California and central Mexico, living in scrublands and grasslands, from the lowlands up to altitudes around 3,000 m. It is an important food item for various predators, including eagles, hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, and various wild cats.

The name jackrabbit refers to its extremely long, donkey-like ears. (A male donkey is called a jack.)

 

 

Black-tailed jackrabbit, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

This picture of a running black-tailed jackrabbit clearly shows its two characteristics: black tail and extremely long ears. – Joshua Tree National Park, California. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Lepus europaeus European hare, brown hare
This species is native from France, Denmark, and southern Finland eastwards across the Asian steppes to Kazakhstan and northern Mongolia, southwards to the Mediterranean, northern Iraq, and north-western Iran. It has also been introduced elsewhere, including Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and southern South America.

It is a steppe animal, living in open areas with scattered bushes, but has readily adapted to a life in farmland, as long as there is shelter nearby.

 

 

European hare and greylag goose (Anser anser) on a ploughed field, eastern Funen, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Hare on a forest road, eastern Funen. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Hares, resting among growths of grassleaf orache (Atriplex littoralis), Møn, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

This hare scans its surroundings from the top of a dune, western Jutland, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Hares in their forms, western Jutland. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Track of a hare, western Jutland. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

These hares, found at Ringkøbing Fjord, Denmark, had succumbed to a contagious disease. A period of three weeks has elapsed between the two pictures. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Alvis, a British car, model 1931, with a hare as decoration on the bonnet, Aakirkeby Veteran Car Museum, Bornholm, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Lepus nigricollis Indian hare
This hare, divided into 7 subspecies, is widespread in the Indian Subcontinent, from northern Pakistan, southern Nepal, and Assam southwards to Sri Lanka. It has also been introduced to various places, including Java, Madagascar, and New Guinea.

Habitats include open forests, shrubberies, grassland, deserts, wasteland, and cultivated areas. In the Himalaya, it has been observed up to elevations around 4,500 m.

The Indian hare varies quite a lot between the subspecies. The black-naped hare, ssp. nigricollis, which is found in southern India and Sri Lanka, has a black patch on the hind neck, and its tail is black above. The neck of ssp. ruficaudatus is grey, and the tail is brown above. The colour of ssp. dayanus, which lives in deserts, is sandy-yellow.

 

 

Black-naped hare, ssp. nigricollis, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Lepus oiostolus Woolly hare
This species is native to Central Asia, found from south-western Xinjiang and northern Pakistan eastwards across the Tibetan Plateau and northern Nepal and Sikkim to the Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. Its habitats include grasslands, scrublands, and deserts, at elevations between 3,000 and 5,300 m.

The specific name is unexplained.

 

 

Woolly hare, Shigatse, Tibet. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Lepus timidus Mountain hare, tundra hare
This hare is distributed in a vast area, from Scandinavia eastwards through the tundra and taiga belts to the Pacific Coast, southwards to northern Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, north-eastern China, and Hokkaido. There are also isolated populations in Ireland, northern Scotland, and the Alps, and it has been introduced to many other places, including Svalbard, Iceland, the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands, northern England, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Crozet Islands.

Despite the name mountain hare, it also lives in lowlands, found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, coastal marshes, forests, and farmland.

In Sweden, it has declined drastically due to competition from the introduced European hare (presented above).

It is not clear what the specific name refers to.

 

 

Mountain hares, Zolotoi Khrebet (‘Golden Ridge’), Chukotka, eastern Siberia, photograhed in mid-June. A single animal has still not changed to the greyish summer pelt. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Lepus victoriae African savanna hare
The African savanna hare, previously known as Lepus microtis, occurs in grassland and scrubland in a vast area, from Western Sahara southwards to Guinea, and thence eastwards across the Sahel Zone to western Ethiopia, and from here southwards through eastern Africa to northern South Africa, westwards to Angola and north-eastern Namibia.

The specific name may refer to Lake Victoria, or to Victoria, Queen of England 1837-1901.

 

 

African savanna hare, sitting on a road, Buffalo Springs National Park, Kenya. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

African savanna hare, resting in a form, Gol Kopjes, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Oryctolagus cuniculus European rabbit, coney
This species, the sole member of the genus, is the only wild species of rabbit in Europe, where it was originally native to Spain, Portugal, and south-western France. In this area it has been declining in later years due to overhunting, habitat loss, and various diseases, including myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease.

It is a very important prey species for many predators, including foxes, dingo, wolf, wild cat, polecat, Iberian lynx, and eagles.

The European rabbit has been introduced as a hunting object to many other countries on all continents, except Antarctica. In countless cases, it has done severe damage to the environment, partly through overgrazing, partly through its system of underground tunnels, and partly through competition with local wildlife. It is regarded as an invasive species in most countries.

It was first brought to Britain by the Romans, following their invasion in A.D. 43, and today it is extremely common – an estimate in 2004 suggested about 40 million.

In Australia, 24 European rabbits were introduced in Victoria in 1859. The vast farmlands were an ideal habitat for the rabbits, and the mild winters allowed them to breed year-round, so they quickly spread over most of the country. Australia’s equivalent to the rabbit, the greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis), could not compete with the fast-breeding rabbits, and today it is an endangered species.

Other places of introduction include New Zealand, certain Hawaiian islands, and islands off the coast of South Africa.

There are also many instances of pet rabbits, which have escaped, forming feral populations.

The European rabbit is the only domesticated rabbit species. Originally, it was kept for fur and meat production. In 1994, it was estimated that the annual procuction of rabbit meat was 1,500,000 tonnes. Its fur is mainly used for felting or hats. Later it became a popular pet animal, and today as many as 305 breeds are known.

The generic name is composed of Ancient Greek oryktos (‘dug up’), and lagos, the classical term for hare. The specific name is the classical Latin term for rabbit, presumably originated from Ancient Greek kuniklos (‘burrow’), combined with the Latin diminutive culus, thus ‘the small digger’.

In 1972, English author Richard Adams (1920-2016) wrote the novel Watership Down, describing the life of a group of wild rabbits in southern England. Much of the behaviour of the rabbits in the novel was based on the book The Private Life of the Rabbit (1964), by British naturalist Ronald Lockley (1903-2000). Although the rabbits have been anthropomorphized in Adams’s novel, it gives a fair account of the life of these animals.

 

 

European rabbits outside their den, Spey Valley, Scotland. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)
 
 
This picture shows a dark European rabbit, probably with genes from escaped pets, nibbling at flowers and leaves of common broom (Cytisus scoparius), Bornholm, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Myxomatosis is a contagious disease among European rabbits, which makes the animals blind. This one was found at Brown Rigg, Fell, Cumbria, England. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

European rabbit, carved in a dead tree, Fanø, western Jutland, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Sylvilagus Cottontail rabbits, tapetis
This large genus, comprising about 27 species, is widely distributed in the Americas, from southern Canada southwards to northern Argentina. Most species give birth to their young in forms (hiding places in dense vegetation), and they may have up to 3 litters a year.

The generic name is a combination of the Latin silva (‘forest’), and lagos, the classical Greek term for hare. It is derived from the original name of the eastern cottontail (described below), Lepus sylvaticus, applied in 1837 by Lutheran minister and naturalist John Bachman (1790-1874). This animal lives in a variety of habitats, including forest.

 

Sylvilagus audobonii Desert cottontail
The desert cottontail is distributed in the western United States, from eastern Montana and North Dakota southwards to central Mexico, and in California and Baja California. It is absent from the north-western states.

It lives in a variety of habitats, including deserts, dry grasslands, and piñon-juniper forest, at elevations up to around 1,800 m. In the most arid zones it is mainly found along rivers. It gives birth to its young in abandoned burrows, dug by other animals.

The specific name honours French-American artist and naturalist John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, 1785-1851), who is best known for his books The Birds of America (published in several volumes 1827-1838), and The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845).

 

 

Desert cottontail, Salton Sea, California (top), Monument Valley, Arizona (2nd), and Joshua Tree National Park, California. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Sylvilagus bachmani Brush rabbit
This small rabbit inhabits dense scrublands, especially bramble, along the coast of western North America, from extreme southern Washington State southwards to southern Baja California, the eastern limit of its range being the eastern sides of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains.

In Oregon it has been known to hybridize with the introduced eastern cottontail (described below).

The specific name was given in honour of John Bachman (see genus name above).

 

 

Brush rabbit, San Simeon, California. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Sylvilagus floridanus Eastern cottontail
A medium-sized rabbit, living in grasslands and scrubland, from extreme south-central Canada southwards through the eastern half of the United States, Mexico, and parts of Central America to Columbia and Venezuela.

Originally, it was restricted to the eastern United States, but following the clearance of forests by settlers, it expanded its range west- and northwards. Formerly, it was not found in New England, but was introduced and now competes with the native New England cottontail (S. transitionalis).

It has also been introduced to Oregon, Washington State, and British Columbia, and in Europe to France, northern Italy, and other places. It has disappeared from France, but the population in Italy seems to be expanding.

The specific name refers to Florida, where the type specimen was collected.

Previously, cottontails in the mountains of the south-western United States and western Mexico were regarded as belonging to this species, but are now considered a distinct species, the robust cottontail (S. holzneri).

 

 

Eastern cottontail, Assateague Island, Maryland. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Eastern cottontail, naturalized at Birch Bay, Washington State. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Sylvilagus palustris Marsh rabbit
As its name implies, this rabbit inhabits marshes and swamps, found in coastal regions, from Virginia southwards to Florida. It lives near water and is an excellent swimmer. It resembles the eastern cottontail (above), but has smaller ears, legs, and tail, and the pelt is often quite dark.

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘living in marshes’.

 

 

The pelt of the marsh rabbit may be very dark, as in this one, encountered at Lake Woodruff, Florida. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Ochotonidae Pikas or mouse-hares
These small, mouse-like animals, comprising about 30 species, are all placed in a single genus, Ochotona. With the exception of two species in North America, they all occur in the eastern half of subarctic and temperate Asia.

Pikas mainly live in rocky or grassy ares, where they either dig a burrow or live in crevices among rocks and scree. During the summer months, they collect large amounts of grass and other plants to store as winter food, as they do not hibernate. Some species have been known to store dead migrant birds in their burrows, eating their brains during winter, when they need more energy.

The generic name is probably derived from the Mongolian word for these animals, ogdoi, whereas the name pika is derived from their Tungus name, piika.

 

Ochotona curzoniae Black-lipped pika, plateau pika
This pika lives in high alpine deserts and grasslands at elevations between 3,100 and 5,000 m, distributed from western Tibet eastwards across the Tibetan Plateau and the northernmost regions of India and Nepal to the Gansu and Yunnan Provinces. In some Chinese territories it is threatened due to aggressive poisoning campaigns by people, as it competes for food with livestock.

The specific name honours British politician and explorer George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925), who served as Viceroy of India 1899-1905, and as Foreign Secretary 1919-1924. During an expedition to Russia and Central Asia 1888-89, he collected specimens of this animal.

 

 

Black-lipped pikas outside their den, Nagarze, Tibet. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Ochotona hyperborea Northern pika
This species is found in rocky tundra and mountains in the eastern half of Siberia, eastwards to the Pacific Ocean, southwards to northern Mongolia, north-eastern China, North Korea, and Hokkaido. There is also an isolated population much further west in the Ural Mountains, which seems odd. These animals may constitute a separate species.

This pika is known to store dead migrant birds in its burrow, eating their brains during winter, when it needs more energy, as it does not hibernate, despite the harsh climate.

The specific name is derived from Ancient Greek hyper (‘over’) and boreios (‘northern’), thus ‘living in the extreme north’.

 

 

Northern pika, Schirnaya Mountains, Zolotoi Khrebet (‘Golden Ridge’), Chukotka, eastern Siberia. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Ochotona ladacensis Ladakh pika
As its name implies, this species occurs in Ladakh, where it is common, and otherwise it is widely distributed across the Tibetan Plateau, from Xinjiang and Qinghai southwards to Pakistan and north-western India, at elevations between 4,300 and 5,500 m. The fur is grey or brown, or a mixture of the two.

 

 

Ladakh pika among lichen-encrusted rocks, Nimaling, Upper Markha Valley, Ladakh. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Ochotona macrotis Large-eared pika
This animal is found in montane areas, from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Xinjiang southwards to Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, north-western India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and eastwards to the Qinghai and Yunnan Provinces. It lives in crevices among rocks and scree.

The specific name is derived from the Latin macro (‘large’), ultimately from Ancient Greek makros (‘long’), and Ancient Greek ous (‘ear’).

 

 

Large-eared pikas, Gokyo Valley, Khumbu, eastern Nepal. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

Ochotona roylei Royle’s pika
This species is the commonest and most widespread Himalayan pika, distributed from Kashmir eastwards to northern Myanmar and the Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. Like the previous species, it builds its nest among boulders, but generally lives at lower altitudes in forested areas.

The fur colour of this species varies considerably, as is obvious in the pictures below.

The specific name was given in honour of British surgeon and naturalist John Forbes Royle (1798-1858), who is chiefly known for his works Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, and Flora of Cashmere.

 

 

Royle’s pika, Rohtang La Pass, Himachal Pradesh. In the lower picture, it is eating leaves of Nepalese pinkweed (Persicaria nepalensis). (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Royle’s pika, Gosainkund, Langtang National Park, Nepal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Royle’s pika, Bhaniakund, Garhwal, Uttarakhand. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

This one was encountered at Lake Dodi Tal in the upper Asi Ganga Valley, Garhwal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

 

(Uploaded March 2025)