Today we will talk about the most common types of hares. In Russia, the most numerous are the grouse and the white hare; the Manchu hare, the tolai, the hare-hare, which is a cross between the grouse and the white hare and not bringing offspring, are also found. We are interested in the first two species, since they are most valued and are most often found. Also, these species are often confused, consider their differences.
Types of Hares: Roe
The hare belongs to large species. It weighs from four to six kilograms, rarely, but still there are individuals whose weight reaches seven kilos. This is a fairly long beast, an adult can be up to 68 centimeters. But for all its external bulkiness, the physique remains rather fragile. The species of the hare is characterized by long ears (up to 14 centimeters), which make it easy to distinguish it from the white hare. The tail is also quite large (from 7 to 14 centimeters), wedge-shaped, brown or black in color on the upper side. The paws of the rodent are longer than the paws, but the feet are shorter and narrower, as it lives in places where the snow cover is not too deep.
The appearance of a brown hare is very beautiful all year round. In summer, it has a brown, ocher-red, olive-brown, brown, ocher-gray or ocher-brown color. The brown fur has a motley, shiny, crimped coat. The sides are noticeably lighter than the back, and the abdomen is completely white, without variegation and spots. There are bright circles around the red-brown eyes of the brown, and the ears of this animal remain black year-round. In winter, a little brown is lighter than in summer, but never completely changes color, as a white hare does.
Lifestyle and habitat
Various types of hares are found everywhere in all areas, in any territories. The hare is an inhabitant of the steppes, tundra, woodlands. He chooses mainly deciduous forests for his life and there he looks for a clearing or a burnt place. It is very rare to find a roe in a coniferous forest.
These hares like to populate areas closer to human settlements, rivers. They choose sites where human lands alternate with rare plantings, fields, mountains, ponds and ravine networks. They mainly live in thickets of shrubs or a small hole adjacent to some tree, pond. Often, geese inhabit abandoned foxes, badgers and other animals burrows. In winter, hares dig rookery places in the snow, and these burrows can reach two meters in length. However, not only in the steppes withers winter, they can lie down in haystacks from the fall , and also dig a shelter in the territory adjacent to the person’s house.
In summer, the crayons try to climb to a great height, go to the mountains, to high forests. Closer to winter, hares descend back, trying to get as close as possible to the settlements.
The active time of day for the Crayfish is night. At this time, they are engaged in feeding and can go several kilometers from their habitat. In the afternoon, gnats sleep in bushes or burrows. In inclement weather, these hares may not feed for several days, sit in a dry and warm shelter.
Running a rut is perfectly adapted. It can reach speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour, moving in long jumps. Mermaid, like all kinds of hares, are very quiet animals. The female calls her offspring with quiet sounds, males can bite their teeth. Also, they often tap their feet, this is also their type of communication. Being wounded or caught, the rookie begins to scream very loudly.
Nutrition and reproduction
In the summer, the grouse eats diversely. He picks young shoots of trees and shrubs, eats stems and foliage, and can dig roots.
The second half of summer dilutes the diet with plant seeds, which the grouse distributes, since not everything eaten is digested. He likes to feast on dandelions, alfalfa, chicory and other plants. He is looking for berries, wild apples, but sometimes he climbs into human gardens, causing them tremendous harm. Also, the rooks ruins the fields, his favorite delicacies are various cereals, buckwheat, sunflowers, bread crops.
Unlike the white hare, in winter this hare continues to feed on leftover grass, winter crops, seeds, vegetables left by people who are torn out from under the ground. Also, he will not deny himself the pleasure of gnawing the bark from a pear and apple tree, willow, aspen.
In the breeding season, a brown hare can bring up to five broods. In each brood - from one to nine cubs, and they are born already covered with wool, sighted, weighing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty grams. Before giving birth, the hare arranges a small nest, covers it with grass. Having given birth, the female leaves and returns only once a day to feed the cubs. It happens that she comes less often, about once in four days. By the second week of life, rabbits begin to climb out of the shelter on their own, they can eat grass. By four weeks, the kids become completely independent and no longer need the help of their mother.
The significance of a brown man
Mermaid, almost like all other types of hares, are quite numerous. They are a valuable beast to fishers. They are extracted for the sake of meat and skins, which go to the manufacture of fur products, felt.
But the rook is not only useful to humans, but also harmful. It greatly affects yield, as it is very gluttonous and, once in the garden, can harm it. Mermaids dig vegetables, eat berries, and in one night one hare is able to eat bark from fifteen fruit trees, and after its attack the plant may die or become ill for a long time.
Also, gnats are carriers of numerous diseases. They are dangerous not only for themselves, but also for people and animals that hunt them - these are wolves, foxes, lynxes and eagles.
White hare: external view
The hare has smaller sizes in comparison with the grouse. Its size reaches from forty-five to sixty-five centimeters, weight ranges from three and a half to five kilograms. The physique of this hare is not as fragile as that of a brown. The ears are also not so long, they are very neat, there is black fur on the tips.
The hare has powerful hind legs, quite long, and short forepaws, like all other types of hares. You can see a photo of this animal in our article.
The hare justifies its name by replacing a fur coat for the winter period. In summer, it has a reddish-gray color and thanks to him is perfectly masked. It is in the summer that inexperienced hunters or unknowing people can call him a Rusak. In winter, this hare becomes snow-white, and it is almost impossible to notice, only black tips of ears and eyes can give out.
White Habitat
Unlike a grouse, the hare selects woodlands, avoids plains and open glades, swamps and too dense forest. The whites are sedentary animals and do not go very far from their rookery. In winter, they rarely leave the territory at all, forcing them to move a long distance can only be the lack of food, for it they go to a world full of dangers.
Also, the hare can leave the hatched and inhabited place due to drought or, conversely, flooding of the territory.
White Meal
He eats a hare, as well as a hare, at night. In summer it feeds on grass, various plants, shoots of shrubs and trees. In winter, the diet becomes scarce, and the hare cannot eat only the bark of aspen and willow, he is looking for the bones of dead animals, horns dropped by elks and deer. Otherwise, he eats the same way as all kinds of hares.
Breeding
In one hare, from five to eleven rabbits are born in one hare. They, as well as russians, immediately see, covered with fur. Unlike young brown cod, white-haired animals can feed on their own by the week, and become independent by two weeks.
The female gives birth to her offspring in the open and can only dig a small hole in the winter.
The hare is also a game animal. Its fur and meat are more valued than the brown, so experienced hunters prefer to hunt for this particular species.