Brown Hare

Name: Brown Hare

Scientific name: Lepus europaeus

Category: Mammals

Nature Stars: 50

What are nature stars?

About:

The Brown Hare is about 60cm long, a golden brown colour, with a pale belly and a white tail. Hares have black tips to their long ears and long legs for running. They graze on vegetation as well as nibbling bark from young trees and bushes. Hares shelter in a 'form', a shallow scrape in the group. They are commonest in grassland and woodland edges. In early Spring, Brown Hares are at their most visible, 'boxing' in the fields during the breeding season.

Visit the brown hare's Beast of the Month page for more fantastic facts!

How to identify: The Brown Hare is larger than the Rabbit, with longer legs and longer ears with black tips.

Where: Widespread, found throughout England and Wales, but absent from northern Scotland and the Scottish Islands.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 10
• Agility: 50
• Rarity: 60
• Cute factor: 60
• Traveller: 50

Fantastic fact: A baby hare is called a leveret.

Photograph credit: Damian Waters Drumimages.co.uk