Animal · Germany, United Kingdom, France
European brown hare
Lepus europaeus — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The European brown hare is a fast, long-legged relative of the rabbit that lives out in the open, unlike rabbits which shelter in burrows. It relies on speed rather than hiding to escape danger.
Picture credit: Iwona Kałuzińska (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Böhringer Friedrich (CC BY-SA 2.5) · caroline legg (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the european brown hare live?
Home: Open farmland and grassland across Europe and parts of Asia.
In the wild you find it in: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures up to 70 cm long. It weighs about 4 kilograms. On the menu: plants.
The story behind it
A hare can sprint at up to 70 km/h and change direction sharply while running, which is often enough to outpace foxes and dogs across open fields. Unlike rabbits, hares do not dig burrows; instead they rest in a shallow scrape in the grass called a form, relying on stillness and camouflage to stay hidden until the last moment. In spring, hares are famous for boxing matches, where females stand up on their hind legs and strike males with their front paws, often to test a suitor's persistence rather than out of aggression, giving rise to the phrase 'mad as a March hare'. Baby hares, called leverets, are born fully furred with open eyes and can hop within hours, unlike blind, hairless baby rabbits.
Find it on the globe
European brown hare is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit?
Hares are larger with longer legs and ears than rabbits, live above ground in shallow nests instead of burrows, and their young are born furred and ready to hop, unlike blind, hairless baby rabbits.
Why do hares box each other?
Hare boxing usually happens in spring between a female and a male, where the female strikes out to test whether the male is persistent and strong enough to be worth mating with, rather than as a real fight.
How fast can a hare run?
A European brown hare can run at speeds of up to 70 km/h, one of the fastest land mammals for its size, and can change direction instantly to shake off a chasing fox or dog.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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