The European hare

Fach Fach

Klasse 10

Autor sandi2001

Veröffentlicht am 13.10.2018

Schlagwörter

hare hase feldhase

Zusammenfassung

Dieses Referat beinhaltet einen Steckbrief der Gattung des Feldhasen (englisch: European Hare). Es wird seine Lebensweise erklärt, sein Aussehen beschrieben etc. Das Referat ist in englischer Sprache verfasst.

The European hare

What we colloquially call a rabbit in everyday life is often a rabbit - in fact a real hare or european / brown hare is a wild animal that also lives here. He is a fascinating animal in many aspects. After all, it is excellently adapted to its habitat and equipped with fabulously good senses (more on this later). The hare has already been voted Animal of the Year twice (2001 and 2015). In the following, the genus of the brown hare is examined more closely in the form of a profile:

  1. Classification
  2. Habitat
  3. Constitution and appearance
  4. Age
  5. Dangers
  6. Nourishment
  7. Reproduction

Characteristics

1. Classification:
The term “hare“ refers not only to the type of field hare, but to a whole family; the family of hares, also known as Leporidae. However, in this paper we deal with the field hare. The Latin technical term for the brown hare is Lepus europaeus. It belongs to the class of mammals, to the subclass of higher mammals, to the order of the hare-like (also called Lagomorpha) as well as to the superorder of the Euarchontoglires. Furthermore, it belongs, as already mentioned, to the family of the hares as well as to the genus of the real hares (Lepus).


2. Extension and habitat:
The brown hare has a quite large spread-area, with the majority being resident on the European continent. There the hare can be found almost everywhere, as long as you count out some exceptions like Portugal and the western Spain as well as Iceland and Scandinavia. Moreover, the entire southern South America, Tierra del Fuego and further islands in the south are included in the spread-area of the hare. Small parts of North America offer the field hare a home. Also New Zealand and the southeast of Australia is populated by the brown hare. The brown hare lives there preferably in open forests and fields as well as various steppes and dunes. In the today’s time, more and more is often observed, the field-hare even big parks in cities populate.


3. Constitution and appearance:

The European hare is one of the largest species of its superorder. On average a field hare comes to half a meter head-hull-length. The tail becomes about ten centimeters long. In contrast to for example rabbits, the field-hare has extremely big and strong rear-feet. These can be up to eighteen centimeters long. Their ears, which are also larger compared to those of rabbits, reach a length of up to thirteen centimeters. A full-grown hare can weigh as much as six kilograms. It must be said, however, that the male brown hares are usually of a somewhat heavier and larger stature than the female hares. The Fur of the brown-hare is relatively long and dense. Altogether, the fur appears ochre-brown and/or brown-redish. The belly is mostly almost white, also body parts like breast and head are more brightly colored than the back. The ears are colored in a light gray and end in a dark fur-top. The tail of the hare is dark seen from above, from below however brightly colored. The color and structure of the coat naturally varies from animal to animal and also depends on various factors such as area, sex, age and, above all, the time of year.


4. Age:

European hares almost never reach a high age in the wild for various reasons. Even if they are theoretically able to reach an age of about twelve years, the majority of field hares are only a few months or years old.


5. Dangers:

The hare is regarded as an endangered species in some areas, including Germany. The blame for it lies unfortunately with us humans, since by the agriculture the habitat of the hare shrinks strongly. In addition, numerous hares are shot by hunters or accidentally run over by cars.

Even if the brown-hare is built far bigger and more robust by far than the rabbit, they have the same enemies: Usually, it is about different gripping-birds as well as foxes. In order to protect itself from such dangers, a hare is excellently equipped. He is regarded as a master of camouflage: when he feels threatened, he moves to a rocky area and flattens his body. Through the gray-brown fur-color, the European hare looks almost invisible before rocky background. If it is noticed nevertheless by a predator, its powerful hind legs come to the employment: it reaches a speed of fabulous seventy kilometers per hour. His jumps reach a height of up to two meters. Usually he succeeds in losing his opponent with the help of abrupt changes of direction.


6. Nourishment:

Like rabbits, field hares belong to the consumer group of herbivores, also known as herbivores. So they feed preferably on grasses and herbs as well as any green plants. Also roots and tubers, seeds, tree-bark and even grain stand on the food-plan of the field-hare. It is worth mentioning that a nutrient-rich paste is formed in the appendix of the rabbit, which is eaten again after excretion and actually contributes to the health of the animal. In one day, field hares need up to one and a half kilograms of food.
Indigestible food leftovers are excreted in the form of small balls, so-called hare droppings.


7. Reproduction:

It is often the case that the male rabbits fight for a female rabbit. They fight on that occasion, hunt each other and beat each other with its front-paws. The choice is finally made by the female rabbit, whereby the strongest buck is always chosen. After the combination and the following approximately forty-day gestation period, between one and five hare - offspring. A female hare can give birth several times a year, so there is no specific mating season. European hares and also rabbits belong to the so-called nidifugous animals. This means that they are already on their own shortly after birth.