“Take a hare to an old greyhound, not a rabbit”, goes the saying. The expression is used figuratively to warn of the importance of entrusting complex tasks to experienced people. However, if for some reason it was necessary to comply with the locution in a literal way, more than one would not know very well what to throw at the dog. Because what difference is there between a hare and a rabbit?
The confusion is similar to when we compare a crocodile and an alligator, a tuna and a bonito, or a leopard and a cheetah. And it is that, as it happens with these pairs of animals, the hare and the rabbit are similar because they belong to the same family, the Leporidae; both are lagomorph mammals, leporidae. But they are also different species, so they also have differences.
It must be said that the leporidae is a huge family, made up of 11 genera. Hares belong to the genus Lepus, which has around thirty different species. For their part, rabbits are the only member of the genus Oryctolagus, of which more than 30 different species have also been recognized.
Their oval heads, long ears, and large eyes can lead to confusion, but the truth is that it is not that difficult to differentiate these small mammals, which are in no way rodents. Let’s see how to avoid being given a rabbit for a poke:
Undoubtedly, size is the element that most quickly helps to distinguish these animals. The wild common rabbit measures between 40 and 50 centimeters and its weight ranges between 1 and 2.5 kilograms. If we stick to their ears, whose elongated shapes allow them to hear better and regulate their body temperature, their size varies between 4 and 8 centimeters.
For its part, the hare is larger. It can reach up to 70 centimeters and weigh between 3 and 4 kilograms. The difference in size is also reflected in their morphology: the ears are proportionally longer, about 10 centimeters, as are their hind legs, extraordinarily stylized and muscular to be able to reach high speeds.
Hares reach higher speeds than rabbits. If the common rabbit can move at about 40 km/h, the European hare does so at 56 km/h and the North American or Iberian hare, at 70 km/h over short distances. In addition, hares can jump up to three meters high and drastically vary course in the air to confuse their predator. Rabbits make quicker, shorter hops, which help them move through vegetation, although over short distances they can also be fast.
Another notable difference between the two leporidae is how they live. Rabbits dig burrows underground, sometimes forming tunnels of some complexity, where they live in groups (colonies) and take refuge from predators. They usually build their underground networks in bushes, forests, agricultural areas and even in parks.
Hares prefer to live in the open, hiding in a shallow depression or on small mounds of earth. They are more solitary than rabbits, although they can also live in pairs.
A baby rabbit, gazapo, is not at all like that of a hare, lebrato. A rabbit is born blind, deaf, hairless and with very reduced mobility, which in nature is called altricial breeding. However, the lebrato is born with its eyes open and with fur and in a short time they are able to fend for themselves.
These differences have something to do with the gestation period, which in hares lasts 42 days, compared to 30 in rabbits. A hare has between three and four births a year, giving birth to three or four cubs each time. Meanwhile, the rabbit has six to eight young rabbits (although there are litters of 12 or more) in each of the six annual births that it can have.
The high reproduction rates in both cases respond to a mechanism to perpetuate the species. And it is that they are food for an extensive list of predators.
Another difference is that the rabbit has managed to adapt as a domestic animal, something that has not happened with the hare.
Despite their differences and vulnerability, rabbits and hares have managed to survive and thrive in highly varied ecosystems throughout the world. Not in vain, the rabbit is included in the list of 100 of the most harmful invasive alien species in the world of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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