(c) Copyright 2004
By Lin Stone

Over the years hares have been called rabbits
and rabbits have been called hares.
But there are major differences.

Rabbits are born with their eyes shut. They are blind for days.

Rabbits have to snuggle up to Mama for warmth because their fur has yet to grow on them.

Rabbits are Altricial, which means they are like human babies and must grow strong first, and then learn how to hop.

 Grab a rabbit by the head and he will usually close up as if to hide.

Hares seldom build nests; they prefer to sleep  on the ground, not in it.  Rabbits prefer to sleep in the ground, not on it.  They dig holes and build their nests beneath the surface. These two photos are here by compliments of Texas Parks and Wildlife.  Click on both pictures for a link to more information. Click HERE for a free jokebook about the Easter Bunny.

 Hares like to live in the open 
where they can run from danger.  
Rabbits like to be in tangled areas 
where they can  hide from danger.    

Hares can molt to white in winter.   But,
If you see a white rabbit named Harvey, 
he was born that way, in March. 

Hares may not nurse their young at all. 
Their young are ready to move from home before they are one day old.

Rabbits must be nursed and cared for by the mother for up to two weeks. 
Even then they may hang around, thumping for sustenance.

Hares have ears that are longer than rabbits have. Hares may
rest beneath a bush, while rabbits have been known to climb small
trees to hide. 

Because of their big front teeth, many people
believe that hares and rabbits are both rodents. 

That isn't true either. 

They both belong to the order of Lagomorpha (which literally
means, hare shaped).Scientists believe they are probably descended
from primitive hoofed mammals, and so are more closely related to
deer and elk than to Mickey's kin.

Female Lagomorphs may produce as many as a dozen babies per
litter. Some of them even breed throughout the year.

Hares don't have young until the year following their birth.
Rabbits can start their first family within 3 months.

An adult cottontail can raise as many as six litters a year,
averaging 5 to 7 per litter.
If all her babies lived and reproduced she would, 
at the end of five short years, have established an empire 
of almost 2,500,004,262 bunnies!

Hares are generally brown to grayish brown, often with black ear tips. 
Especially up north, some will turn white in winter.  
Their ears are almost always longer than their head. 
Their long ears work almost like microphones. 
Better yet, hares can point one ear to the north or east 
while the other ear is pointing west or south at the very same time. 
This enables them to hear hungry coyotes 
long before they get close enough for Happy Meals.

    As long as plants are green hares get most of the water they need from the plants. 
Hares dine on things like cactus, green leaves and grass in the spring and 
switch to twigs in the winter. Usually they are so busy eating they don't even 
stop for lunch. 

It was hares incidentally, not rabbits, that almost ate the Australians out of house and home.
   
    Your Snowshoe Rabbit is a hare. 
Your Jackrabbits are hares. 
But the Belgian Hare? 
He is a rabbit.

   Hares like open, grassy areas since they rely on their speed and agility to escape danger. 
Blacktailed Jackrabbits (which are also hares) measure about 2 feet long from nose to tail, 
and weigh about 5.5 pounds. They can leap 20 feet in a single bound, and 
they can run 30 to 35 MPH over rugged terrain.

Antelope Jackrabbits (which are not rabbits OR antelopes) are almost as fast 
as the American Pronghorn Antelope (which is not an antelope either). 
They have been clocked at speeds of over 40 MPH, 
jumping as far as 10 to 15 feet at every clip.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!  

Dogs who have chased an antelope jackrabbit have been known to give up 
and not chase another hare of any kind for months.

As one hunter said: "I'll admit that Old Mercury has been left behind before, 
but never that fast!"

Lin Stone is an author, writer and photographer living in Mena Arkansas  
among the gentle mountains known as Ouachita.  
His articles and essays are syndicated by talewins to be 
published automatically on other web sites.  
He writes about the peaceable things of this world for Share Your State.  
In his spare time Lin writes copy for insurance roundup.  

You can have immediate, and free, reading of many more pieces when you send your little surfer scooting to Lin's home page at http://www.talewins.com/StoneSoup.htm where he keeps stirring up more good things for the soul.

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