The scrub hare (''Lepus saxatilis'') is one of two species of hares found in southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. Although it is listed as a least concern species, the population has been declining and is expected to decline by 20% over the next 100 years.

Description

The scrub hare has a very distinct coloration. On the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

side of the hare, the fur is grizzled-gray with small black spots. The

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

side of the fur is all white. Scrub hares have a small, stubby tail with the topside being black and the underside being white. What makes ''Lepus saxatilis'' different from the other subspecies is the patch of red-brown fur it has behind its ears. They have long ears that are normally perched up that are gray, and together with its tail make it most visible when it is running from predators. The scrub hare has a very large range in its body size and body mass compared to most animals. Its length ranges from about , and its mass ranges from about .Hamerton, Denise, Biodiversity Explorer. "Lepus saxatilis" (Scrub Hare) (On-line) Web.
/ref> This large range is specific to the scrub hare because of its different geographical ranges. Hares that live in more southern latitudes decrease in body size and those that live in more northern latitudes have larger body sizes. Females are typically larger than males.

Geographic distribution

The scrub hare is endemic to southern Africa. They are most commonly found in southern Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. However, they have been spotted in southeast

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, southwest

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, and

. However, the scrub hare is not found in the Namib desert.

Habitat

Scrub hares are normally found at higher elevations at about 1220 m to 1830 m. They are primarily found in scrub, tall

grasslands A grassland is an area where the vegetation is 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 herbs. Grasslands occur ...

and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

woodlands. However, at night they can be seen in open grasslands. They are never seen in forests or deserts. They have also been known to adapt to agriculturally developed lands. They are also found throughout two different

biomes A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community (ecology), community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Art ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...

. This gives them a temperature range of about .

Ecosystem roles

The scrub hare has many roles in the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. They are responsible for a small amount of soil aeration, which helps redistribute the soil when they are creating their indentations and their forms. An indentation or form is when the hare burrows itself into the ground so that an ‘indent’ forms where it perfectly molds to their body. They also are prey for other animals. They are also a host for many types of fleas and

lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

. The predominant flea parasite species that can be found on the scrub hare is the ''Ctenocephalides felis damarensis''.

Behavior

The scrub hare is a solitary creature. The sexes are only seen together for mating purposes. They are also

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 ...

and are seen

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

at night. However, if the weather is overcast, they will come out earlier. During the day they create a small indent in the ground and lie flat in a motionless form with their ears tucked back to their shoulders. As long as they remain motionless, predators cannot detect them because their coloration blends in with the scrubland and vegetation.

Diet

The scrub hare is a

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 ...

and eats mostly green grasses. During times of drought when green grass is less prevalent, they will indulge in leaves, stems, and

rhizomes In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

of grass. When even those are hard to come by they will eat shrub bark to survive.

Reproduction

They are

polygynous Polygyny () is a form of polygamy entailing the marriage of a man to several women. The term polygyny is from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); . Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any other continent. Some scholar ...

. When a female is experiencing oestrus, many males will surround her in hopes to mate with her. To win the female over, the males will usually compete through ‘boxing’ with their forefeet or kicking with their hind legs. Sometimes the female even gets injured during these fights because the competition is so fierce between the males. They can breed throughout the year, but their peak season is during the summer months of September to February. The

gestation period In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once i ...

is about 42 days and a female gives birth anywhere from 1 to 3 ‘leverets’ at a time. They can have as many as 4 litters per year. It has also been proven that a female is more likely to give birth to triplets after a rainy season. However, their peak time for births is during the summer. The average age for a male and female to reach reproduction age is 1 year.

Parenting style

Mothers invest little time with parenting for their young. The young are born fully haired, open-eyed, and are basically developed enough to take care of themselves. Although the time until independence is unknown, parents do not provide protection or resources and give them no learning experience. There is some suckling at night, but it does not last for many days.

Lifespan

Many scrub hares do not even survive their first year. However, they have been noted that in the wild, these hares survive about 5 years. In captivity, they have lived to be between 6 and 7.

Threats

Conservation status

As of now the scrub hare is listed as a least concern animal and is widespread in southern Africa. Within the next 100 years, their population is estimated to decrease a further 20%.

Predation

The scrub hare does have a few known predators. One of the most pronounced predators is the side-striped jackal, ''Canis adustus''. Another known predator 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 ...

, ''Acinonyx jubatus''. Some less prominent predators are predatory birds and the

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 ...

, ''Caracal caracal''. The scrub hare does not have a large defense against predators. Its most notable is the coloring of its fur. It can act as a camouflage against rugged terrain. When a predator is near, it remains completely motionless, hoping it is not spotted. But at the last possible moment when the predator is near, the scrub hare uses its long hind legs to jump and run away as fast as it can. It runs in a zigzagged formation in hopes it will be difficult for the predator to catch it. However, when it is caught it makes a loud squeal for distress and its last line of defense is to kick or bite, which is usually unsuccessful.

Human pressures

Habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological proces ...

, commercial plantations and development threaten the species because it destroys their habitats and leaves them exposed to predators.

Hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

is also becoming an issue for the scrub hare. Many local people hunt the hare for food and sometimes create gloves out of their soft, warm fur. There has been a distinct population decline due to hunting in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:hare, scrub

scrub hare The scrub hare (''Lepus saxatilis'') is one of two species of hares found in southern Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. Although it is listed as a least concern species, the population has been declining and is expected to ...

Mammals of Southern Africa