The Manchurian hare (''Lepus mandshuricus'') is a species of

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

found in northeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

basin, and the higher mountains of northern

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It lives in forests and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

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

Description

The adult Manchurian hare weighs about 2

kilogram The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially ...

s, and has a body length of , in addition to a tail of . The ears are typically 7.5–10.4 centimeters in length. Compared to the

Korean hare The Korean hare (''Lepus coreanus'') is a species of hare native to the Korean Peninsula and adjoining parts of northeastern China. The Korean hare inhabits diverse habitats within its range, from remote mountain forests to cultivated land. Fur ...

, its hind legs are relatively short and its ears relatively small. A

melanistic The term melanism refers to black pigment and is derived from the gr, μελανός. Melanism is the increased development of the dark-colored pigment melanin in the skin or hair. Pseudomelanism, also called abundism, is another variant of pi ...

morph Morph may refer to: Biology * Morph (zoology), a visual or behavioral difference between organisms of distinct populations in a species * Muller's morphs, a classification scheme for genetic mutations * "-morph", a suffix commonly used in tax ...

exists, and has been described as the separate species ''Lepus melainus''.

Distribution and habitat

The Manchurian hare is native to eastern Russia and northeastern China. Its range extends eastwards from the Ussuri River region of Russia, through the Chinese provinces of

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

and

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

and possibly extends as far as North Korea, where its range may overlap with that of the Korean hare (''Lepus coreanus''). It is found in forests and has a preference for mixed woodlands over coniferous forest. It tends to avoid open areas and keeps away from human settlements. It occurs at altitudes of up to .

Status

The Manchurian hare has a wide range and is present in a number of reserves. Its chief threat is the degradation of its forest habitat and the consequent spread of the

tolai hare The tolai hare (''Lepus tolai'') is a species of hare native to Central Asia, Mongolia, and Northern and Central China. It inhabits semi-desert, steppes, rocky habitats, and forest meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy hu ...

(''Lepus tolai'') which breeds prolifically and with which it is unable to compete. Its present population size and population trend are unknown, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar , from=Q1467702 Lepus Mammals of China Mammals of Korea Mammals of Russia Mammals described in 1861 Taxa named by Gustav Radde