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The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a hare native to
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
extending into
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.


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 his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
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'' and '' Lepus tibetanus'' 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 the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
.


Distribution and habitat

The Cape hare inhabits macchia-type vegetation,
grassland 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, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
,
bushveld The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of ...
, the Sahara Desert and semi-desert areas. It is also common in parts of the
Ethiopian highlands The Ethiopian 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 , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
, such as Degua Tembien.


Feeding

The Cape hare is a nocturnal herbivore, feeding on grass and various shrubs.
Coprophagy Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the grc, κόπρος , "feces" and , "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), 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. Like other hares, they run fast. The only predator which is capable of outrunning them is the
cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
. All other predators are
ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind mo ...
and/or opportunistic hunters; examples of these are leopards,
caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized 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 tufted e ...
s, and black-backed jackals.


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 In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...
; that is, the young are born with eyes open and are able to move about shortly after birth. The Cape hare is no exception in this regard.


Gallery

Image:Lepus capensis arabicus-cropped.jpg, Cape hare (''Lepus capensis arabicus'') photographed at Watba Camel Race Track, Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
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 grc-koi, Ἀπόλλωνος πόλις and in Latin as ''Apollonopolis Magna'', after the chief g ...


Taxonomy

Currently, 12 subspecies are recognised: * '' Lepus capensis capensis'' * '' Lepus capensis aquilo'' * '' Lepus capensis carpi'' * '' Lepus capensis granti'' * '' Lepus capensis aegyptius'' * '' Lepus capensis hawkeri'' * '' Lepus capensis isabellinus'' * '' Lepus capensis sinaiticus'' * '' Lepus capensis arabicus'' * '' Lepus capensis atlanticus'' * '' Lepus capensis whitakeri'' * '' Lepus capensis schlumbergi''


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q748185
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 mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus ...
Mammals of Africa Mammals of Western 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
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 mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus ...
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 mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus ...