The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

extending into

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Taxonomy

The Cape hare was one of the many mammal species originally described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name of ''Lepus capensis''. The taxon is part of a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. ''

Lepus tolai The tolai hare (''Lepus tolai'') is a species of hare native to Central Asia, Mongolia, and Northern and Central China. It inhabits semi-desert, steppes, rocky habitats, and forest meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy human ...

'' and ''

Lepus tibetanus The desert hare (''Lepus tibetanus'') is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Northwest China, and the western Indian subcontinent. Little is known about this species except that it inhabits grassland and scrub areas of desert and semi-desert ...

'' were moved out based on geographic distribution and molecular characteristics. The current remaining grouping of ''Lepus capensis sensu lato'' remains paraphyletic.

Description

The Cape hare is a typical hare, with well-developed legs for leaping and running, and large eyes and ears to look for threats from its environment. Usually, a white ring surrounds the eye. It has a fine, soft coat which varies in colour from light brown to reddish to sandy grey. Unusually among mammals, the female is larger than the male, an example of

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

Distribution and habitat

The Cape hare inhabits macchia-type vegetation,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

bushveld The Bushveld (from Afrikaans: ''bosveld'', Afrikaans: ''bos'' 'bush' and ) is a Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn ...

, the Sahara Desert and

semi-desert A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

areas. It is also common in parts of the

Ethiopian highlands The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...

, such as

Degua Tembien Dogu'a Tembien (, "Upper Tembien", sometimes transliterated as Degua Tembien or Dägʿa Tämben) is a districts of Ethiopia, woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former province of Tembien Province, Tembien. Nowadays, ...

Feeding

The Cape hare is a

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

, feeding on grass and various shrubs.

Coprophagy Coprophagia ( ) or coprophagy ( ) is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek "feces" and "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of o ...

, the consumption of an organism's own fecal material to double the amount of time food spends in the digestive tract, is a common behaviour amongst rabbits and hares. This habit allows the animal to extract the maximum nourishment from its diet, and microbes present in the pellets also provide nutrients. The only predator which is capable of outrunning Cape hare is the

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

. All other predators are

ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...

and/or opportunistic hunters; examples of these are

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...

s, and

black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') is a medium-sized Caninae, canine native to East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly . One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, includin ...

Breeding

After a 42-day-long pregnancy, the female gives birth to from one to three young, termed leverets, per litter and may have as many as 4 litters per year. A characteristic of hares which differentiates them from rabbits is that the young are born

precocial Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...

; that is, the young are born with eyes open and are able to move about shortly after birth.

Gallery

Image:Lepus capensis arabicus-cropped.jpg, Cape hare (''Lepus capensis arabicus'') photographed at Watba Camel Race Track,

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

File:Edfu51.JPG, Cape hare hieroglyph depicted at the

Temple of Edfu The Temple of Edfu is an Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt. The city was known in the Hellenistic period in Koine Greek as Ἀπόλλωνος πόλις and in Latin as ''Apollonopolis Magna'', after the ...

Relationship with humans

An example of an ancient Egyptian mummified ''Lepus capensis'' has been recorded in a tomb near

Dendera Dendera ( ''Dandarah''; ; Bohairic ; Sahidic ), also spelled ''Denderah'', ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”, Tentyris,(Arabic: Ewan-t إيوان-ة ), or Tentyra is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of ...

. The Egyptian god Wenet was a cape hare.

Taxonomy

Currently, 12 subspecies are recognised: * ''

Lepus capensis capensis Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis aquilo Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * '' Lepus capensis carpi'' * ''

Lepus capensis granti Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis aegyptius Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis hawkeri Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis isabellinus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis sinaiticus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis arabicus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis atlanticus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis whitakeri Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

'' * ''

Lepus capensis schlumbergi Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q748185 Lepus Mammals of Africa Mammals of West Asia Fauna of East Africa Mammals of North Africa Mammals of Southern Africa Fauna of the Sahara Fauna of Egypt Fauna of Iran Mammals of Pakistan Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus