The tolai hare (''Lepus tolai'') is a species of

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

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, and Northern and

Central China Central China () is a List of regions of China, region in China. It mainly includes the provinces of China, provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially par ...

. It inhabits

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 ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

s, rocky habitats, and

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy human disturbance, due to its fast reproductive rate. It is mainly active at dusk and at night but is occasionally active during the day.Aulagnier S.; P. Haffner, A. J. Mitchell-Jones, F. Moutou & J. Zima (2009) ''Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East'', A&C Black, London. The taxon is formerly included with the

cape hare The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a hare native to Africa and Arabia extending into India. Taxonomy The Cape hare was one of the many Mammalia in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, mammal ...

Description

The tolai hare grows to a head-and-body length of between with a tail of . It is rather variable in colouration across its range. The upper parts are some shade of dull yellow, pale brown, or sandy grey with brownish or reddish stripes. The hip region is sometimes ochre or grey. The head has a pale, bare, greyish or ochraceous patch of skin surrounding the eye and extending forwards to near the muzzle and backwards to the base of the long ears, which have black tips. The underparts and flanks are pure white. The tail has a broad black or brownish-black stripe on the top.

Distribution and habitat

The tolai hare is native to central and eastern Asia. Its range extends from the eastern side of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

through eastern Iran, Afghanistan, southern Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, through southern Siberia and Mongolia to western, central and north-eastern China. It is a creature of semi-arid steppe, mountain steppe, rocky areas, rough grassland and forest grassland, preferring shrubby areas where there is plenty of cover. Its elevation range is generally between above sea level, but a single individual has been recorded much higher in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ecology

The tolai hare is a nocturnal species and feeds on grasses, herbaceous plants and roots. It does not dig a burrow except when it is breeding, but scrapes out a depression in the ground in which to lie; this scoop is shallow in hot weather but is deeper in colder conditions. Breeding takes place two or three times a year, with litters of two to six young being produced each time. In the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Yangjiesha site of

Loess Plateau The Loess Plateau is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic rock, clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of Dust#Atmospheric, wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounded by t ...

, signs of commensal behavior (taming) between local tolai hares and humans can be found.

Status

The tolai hare has a wide range and is generally a common species. It is hunted in places for its meat and skin, and in Mongolia it is used in traditional medicine. It is present in a number of protected areas, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1355755 Lepus Mammals of Pakistan Mammals described in 1778 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas