Brown Hare

Common Name: Brown Hare

Latin Name: Lepus europaeus

Family: Leporidae

Nationally brown hares are widespread but their population is thought to be declining. Consequently, the brown hare continues to be on the UK list of priority species for biodiversity action.

The brown hare is predominantly associated with lowland farmland but in the Dales, hares are found in a variety of habitats right up to the moorland edge. Brown hares differ from rabbits in that they are much bigger, have longer legs and have longer ears, which have a distinctive black tip. They are nocturnal, normally spending daylight hours in a small depression in the ground known as a form, and they feed on the shoots and leaves of a variety of grasses.

Many people think that ‘mad March hares’ are rival males fighting over females, but they are in fact females fending off amorous males. This courtship activity actually goes on throughout much of the year but is just more obvious in spring before grass and arable crops grow too tall for the animals to be seen.

Little is known about the current status of brown hares in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with the population assumed to be relatively stable. Brown hare is still a game species and can be legally hunted and is the only game species in Britain that does not have a close season.

Websites:

The Mammal Society (opens in new window)