The brown hare is the largest of the hare family, its length can reach 70 cm, and its weight is 7 kg. On average, an adult hare weighs 4–5 kg. His ears are longer than those of a hare (100–120 mm) and have a longer tail, which has a peaked shape (Fig. 1).

The tips of the ears are dark, almost black. The overall coat color is yellowish-fawn-brownish, grayish sides and lighter belly and neck. On a back chubar belt, or a saddle. In winter, the hare brightens considerably (sometimes even whitens), but never becomes completely white. The color of the winter outfit largely depends on the permanent habitat: on whether it is open snow-covered fields or dark weeds. The undercoat is pronounced with slightly curly guard hair. The long hind legs are covered with thick, coarse, medium hard coat. The speed of the hare is higher than that of the hare and reaches 50 km / h. Rusak is originally a steppe animal, but is widely distributed in the forest-steppe zone. With the development of agriculture and in connection with deforestation, the hare range has expanded significantly (Fig. 2).

A lot of Rusakov settles on the forest edges and in the bushes. Rusaks were artificially and fairly successfully settled in the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Chita regions, in the Altai, Krasnoyarsk, and Khabarovsk territories, although not everywhere they reached a considerable number. In the northern parts of the range, the hares are larger than in the south. Rusak leads a sedentary lifestyle, stubbornly preferring the places where he was born. The hare lays down for the night within a radius of 400 m from the previous bed, and, only many times frightened by the persecution, he leaves these places forever. The hare, scared, for example, on the stubble, will not return here the next day, but will lie in a forest belt or forest plantations, but in a day it will be in the same place. In the steppe zone, in hapless winters, hares sometimes migrate en masse in search of food. While the height and friability of snow cover permit, the hare will feed on winter crops. With a strong crust or very high snow cover, it becomes a pest of garden trees or it zhiruet along the edges of forest belts and forests. With the onset of the thaw returns to his favorite food. On hard ground it lays down without arranging a lair, but in a loose soil it digs a hole about 8 cm deep and lays down, with its head on elongated front paws and ears pressed. A delicate ear allows him to constantly monitor the environment (Fig. 3).

During the summer, hares may have up to four broods in the south, three - in the middle lane, to the east - no more than two. Hares of spring litter are called nastoviki, summer - kolosovikami, the end of summer and early autumn - leaf fall. Broods are small - 2–4 hare. They are born in a small depression, natural or made by a hare, very developed, with open eyes. Mother stays with them for a very short time, feeds with thick, fat milk and leaves for several days. If another feeding hare stumbles on the young, it will feed them, and in general the number of feedings before the start of feeding green fodder is minimal. Young hares still live close to each other for a long time. They become fully mature by 15 months, although they are able to reproduce earlier. Life expectancy is 7–8 years. The gon begins in the middle of winter, the males are very excited at this time, they run around a lot in search of a female, and, gathering around her several individuals at a time, arrange “dances” and duels: stand on their hind legs and “box” each other's front. A hare's pregnancy lasts 45–50 days. The ability to confuse traces of hares is innate, but the ability to adapt and gain experience is great. Horny hares become almost arrogant: they distinguish a hunter from a pedestrian, a tied dog from a running loose, while the young are very careful and too shy, often even to their own detriment. This explains the large elimination of the hare in the first year of life. Rusack is not too susceptible to disease. Working hares, cars, tractors, hares quickly cease to be afraid. Running away, they sometimes try to determine the situation: they sit down or, standing on their hind legs, look around. A hare that has ever been under a greyhound will never do that. In the literature, there is an example of the unusual behavior of the hare: running away from greyhounds, he can push the other hare from the bed and lie down in his place if the dogs are not very close. Both young and seasoned hares avoid approaching forest stands during abundant leaf fall, because the noise of the leaves prevents them from hearing the approaching enemy.

They don’t like water from trees and high bushes too much, so after a rain it tries to find a place drier. In very cold spring with abundant rains, the hare of the first litter may die, and then in the fall the small number of hares becomes very noticeable, but still the fluctuation of the number of the hare is less pronounced than that of the hare, which is very susceptible to episodes in rainy years.

A hare can also reach 70 cm in length, but its weight is never more than 5.5 kg (average weight 2.5-3 kg). The ears are not too long with black tips that remain even with a white winter outfit.

In the summer, the white hare is even darker than the hare and has a dirty brown-reddish color with light belly, there is no blackness on the tail. In countries with a pronounced maritime climate, the white hair does not turn white, since there is little snow there and it does not last long.

She leads a purely forest way of life, but does not get clogged in the thicket, preferring sparse deciduous forests and forests, interspersed with cuttings, fires and clearings, although she tries not to go to open places, except for trips to the threshing-floor, to gardens and orchards.

In the middle of summer it sometimes falls on the field of uncooled cereals, but near the saving forest. Overlooks the winter crops, which loves no less than the hare. In the forest it feeds on foliage, shoots of trees, grassy plants. Favorite tree - aspen.

Although the white hair runs slower than the hare, its back legs are bigger and more powerful relative to the body, the legs of the hind legs are wider and the hair on them is harder than that of the hare. This is explained by the fact that in the forest the snow is looser - the necessary wider “skis”.

The area of \u200b\u200bdistribution is extremely wide, lives on the territory of Russia almost everywhere and, except for the tundra, where hares undertake seasonal migrations, lives sedentary, changing only the feeding places depending on the season (Fig. 5).

For a daytime rest, he chooses strong places, except for periods of leaf fall and drops, when he prefers to lie down in the open. Especially active in the early morning hours, and in the tundra active during the day. Hearing in a white hare is developed exclusively, but the sight and smell is not very. He may not find a quiet man. In the spring after the hunger strike they accumulate in the meadows with young grass that is eaten with greed, while losing their vigilance. Gon passes rapidly, and fights often occur between males. In the tundra, the white hare can have only one litter, but up to 7 hare, and in the middle lane and to the south - 2–3, but hare in each litter is 2 times less. Hare sighted and independent already at birth, covered with thick hair, grow very quickly and are able to run pretty fast. The brood keeps close to the mother, and, sometimes, the hare, like birds, removes the predator from the hare, imitating the wound. Already at the end of the first week of life, the hares begin to eat grass.

In autumn and at the beginning of winter, while the snow is still shallow, the main fodder base of the hare are winter crops. In land, they focus. Most often, the hare is arranged to lie in the 80-100 m from the green. His presence can be found on the strained islands on the winter. If the cut ends are not yellowed, then the hare was fed this or last night. Old litter has a grayish color, and fresh - dark green and crumpled in the fingers, not crumbling. On wet soil traces are easily distinguished. The hare likes to lie down on arable land under the blade or in a double furrow. It makes sense to check only the old arable land adjacent to the greens. It is useless to look for a fresh-handed field and a harrow for a hare, it will not fall into too dirty arable land. Other fields adjacent to winter crops are also suitable for searching: uncomfortable with knolls and ravines, perennials (fields that have not been cultivated for a long time), stubble and weeds. For shelter, the hare uses any irregularities: pits, high grass, steaks, heaps of straw, and rolls on the mowed fields. In the autumn, you can observe the hare's desire to get away from the chase just for winter, and also stand on the road and hide in the nearest forest belt. The hare also lies down directly on the winter crops, if they are not too low, also closer to the edge on a higher part of the field (there is drier). It is better to bypass such a field 60 meters from the edge, the part adjacent to the forest belt is particularly promising. In the thick tall greens he can jump right out from under his feet. You can mark a bed here by a handful of land thrown away when you lay down. Often, for such a mound, you can take a lump of earth, but it is still worth checking. In all cases, you should try to go only to the wind to be detected as late as possible, and always be ready to shoot. The hare has a habit of appearing as soon as you drop the shotgun behind your back. At the beginning of the season, you can hunt well in collective farm gardens overgrown with weeds, when the hare is not at all afraid of a person. The difficulty lies in the fact that the animal appears only for a split second and hides in the next row, so it is better to hunt here three together. It’s already useless to look for a later ragged hare in the garden. It is difficult to hunt during the pre-winter period. The white-hare in anticipation of snow lurks, lies on the edges of the ravines overgrown rare shrub, in shelter belts. Still gray hares prefer high weeds, easily passable by the ground. In the high, thick, matted grass, the hare is better not to look; it is not suitable for a quick run.

With the onset of winter, the hare goes to arable land, no longer making a significant distinction, whether they are old or more recent. It is also worth looking for at the edge of winter crops, 100–200 m. It is necessary to find the fat and the trace leading from them to the arable land. If the field is only lightly covered with snow, tracing is difficult, but you can still determine the right direction. It happens that the wind rides the upper dry layer of snow and covers the tracks, then you need to act like in the autumn hunt, just walk along the greens no closer than 100 m from their edge and be very attentive: on a colorful field, the hare is not well distinguished. On the field, completely covered with a fairly even layer of snow, you can see a bed from a distance by the “cap” of snow thrown from the bed, but sometimes it is just a hollow. The beds are now more often located near the landing, where the hare feeds during the period of deep snow, but it can be in the middle of the field, but only with compacted snow, the loose hare does not enter the depth of the field. In the middle of winter, he prefers deep arable land, in which he digs quite deep burrows for laying. They are hardly noticeable to the hunter, and, sometimes, the hare breaks free from the snow right under his feet or behind his back. In any period of the season, an experienced hare manifests more composure and endurance than a profitable one, trying to counter the danger. He is more afraid of stopping the hunter than his movement. It often happens that when the hunter stopped, thinking about a further route, the Rusach-rye jumped slightly to one side behind him - his nerves could not stand.

Hares and corners of a field with bunches of dry grass are very loved, islands are uncomfortable in the middle of winter crops. On the field of alfalfa, he hides under the beveled rolls. In the cultural fields, the hare digs a bed along, rather than across the rows, and in the steppe, under a protruding tuft of higher plants. Occurs in beams along the edge of reeds or in weeds. In case of high snow, it feeds not only on the edges of the landings, but also seeds from the tops of high weeds that have now become available to it. On bright, sunny days it’s good if the sun shines in your back, otherwise it’s difficult to make a good shot. You also need to remember that the hare falls head to its trail.

In late autumn, the hare beckon the gardens of summer residents and villagers. In the shallow snow it can be caught directly at the dacha plots, and near the villages it can stay constantly. The weeds near the farms and village cemeteries are very promising, on the edge of which the hare lies quite often.

Weather is a very important factor. In wet, cloudy weather and in the thaw, the hare lies firmly and lets close, on clear, frosty days, when the snow creaks under your feet, it is extremely difficult to approach the shot. A strong wind from the beast will help to get closer, the windless weather will prevent this. If after a thaw it froze at night, it is almost useless to go hunting. In the fall, if you entered winter crops or thick grass and your shoes became very wet, it’s very unlikely to find a hare here. But in a mowed sunflower and corn, you can hare and lie, and hide from his pursuers.

Prefers a hare in the wind. The hare is strong on the wound, after the shot, even if it seems to be a true blunder, still follow the movement of the animal, there is a chance in the snow to get the wounded animal on the tracks. But do not go at once, otherwise the hare will run all day. We must let him find a place to lie down, after 1 h it can be easily reached. The hare has a big craving for holes, he likes to hide in the holes of foxes and badgers and even in pipes.

From the pursuers in the fall often leaves roads, ski runs and their own trampled paths - in the winter.

Barometer can give a hint. The growth of atmospheric pressure suggests that the hare will keep open places and behave cautiously and sensitively. With a sharp drop in atmospheric pressure, the hare lies tightly on the stubble, arable land, along the edges, in places, in weeds or perennials.

You need to walk slowly, with a quick movement of the hare misses the hunter. And the rider should go the slowest step. The animal is less afraid of the horse. The white hare (as well as the hare) can be found by the fats, only it is the roaring of the trees, the bark and the shoots there are gnawed. Gnaws look darkened, weary, if they are made for a long time, fresh bites are light. It can also be found not far from a permanent feeding place, moreover, sometimes it is possible to pick up two and even three white hares, possibly, littermates. By circling the fat in a spiral, the hare can be raised at a distance of 200 to 300 m. He prefers to lie under the twists, spruce paw, in the recess at the roots.

In dense stands, white trees choose small clumps of young trees for maturation. Running across an open space, the white cat tries to stick to at least some kind of shelter, for example, the trunk of a fallen tree.

If you did not manage to get a raised hare, run along the animal 50–70 m and, stopping, look carefully and listen. Usually the young hare tries to determine where the danger is coming from, and, crouching, also looks around and listens. And it happens that, having run a small circle, he stumbles directly on the hunter.

In winter, the white hare prefers to feed in the willow along rivers and lakes. Belyak (like hare) at this time goes to feed on the outskirts of the villages, to farms and gardens. In November-December, the well-fed hare quickly goes to the bed, and by the end of January begins to run a lot, leaving a long confused track. It is thrown off, going to the bed, for 2–3 m for the Christmas tree, stump, snow puffing and, having made a small loop, lies with its head on its own trail.

When high snow digs mink as a shelter, and in the open. The white-haired man lies in such a hole extremely hard: you can go skiing nearby, but it will not rise. The length of the trail of the hare going to the bed can reach 3 km.

Four species of hares live in our country. The white hare inhabits the tundra, forest and forest-steppe zones; the hare is the southern half of the European part, the north-western part of Kazakhstan and certain areas in the south of Western and Central Siberia; tolai hare, or sandstone, - Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Transbaikalia; Manchu - the south of the Far East. Here we will discuss only the first two, the most common types.

The hare is especially widespread in our country. The length of his body is from 45 to 65 centimeters, the weight is from 2.5 to 5.5 kilograms. The ears are relatively short: they are bent forward, with their ends barely reaching the tip of the nose. The paws are wide and strongly pubescent. Summer wool reddish-brown. Dim coloring helps the animal to escape from numerous enemies (it "dissolves" against the background of forest vegetation). In winter, the snow white snow-white, only the tips of the ears remain black.

Belyak - a resident of forests. Only in the tundra and at the southern border of distribution does it live in treeless spaces, and then it selects the most protected places there: thickets of bushes in river valleys, steppe groves. Solid arrays of high forest, devoid of grass and deciduous undergrowth, not very attractive. Hares are rarely found here, mainly along the outskirts of swamps, on the burn-out areas. The white hare reaches its greatest number in places where various types of forest land are mosaically arranged - on forest islands among overgrown cuttings and burnt areas, in riparian forests, thickets along water bodies, on forest edges, in humid lowlands and other similar places where Herbage and rich undergrowth is growing.

In the summer, the white hawk feeds on succulent fodder - various types of grassy vegetation. At this time, he suffers from salt starvation: he gnaws the bones of fallen animals, thrown by reindeer horns, visits saline soils - natural exits of salt, where he gnaws salty earth. In the fall, they gradually switch to branch feeds and feed on them almost the entire winter. It eats thin branches and young shoots of soft hardwoods - willow, aspen, birch, and in more southern habitats - oak, maple, hazel. With thicker branches, hares gnaw at the bark. If in the woods or in the felling the wind knocks aspen, the whites gather in this place for a feast. After some time, all the knots of fallen tree, covered with a fragile light green bark, are gnawed by hares. The branches, to which the hares could not reach, were “treated” by moose, and soon only the white skeleton of the fallen tree remained on the snow.

In addition to branch feeds, white people eat dry grass in a small amount among weeds sticking out from under the snow, choose leaves from haystacks left on forest glades and in floodplains of the river, or pick up pieces of hay on forest roads, lost during removal.

A white dog has several broods per year. In the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions - two broods per summer, in the more southern regions - three, and in Eastern Siberia, in Yakutia, where the frost-free period is short, - one. Gon runs in March, and in the warm winter even in late February. During the rut, the males give a voice at night and in the dawns, gather together several animals together, fight. The female is sometimes covered by several males.

The first brood after 49 - 51 days of gestation, the hare brings early: often in the forest there is still snow covered with crust. Hunters call such early hares hunters. Newborns weigh 90 - 130 grams. They are born sighted and covered with wool. On the first day of life, they are able to move, and on the 9th-10th day they begin to eat grass. The newborn rabbit knows how to hide so tightly that it is often possible to step on it.

Shortly after giving birth, the female mates again and in the middle of summer brings the second litter. In the southern part of the range, the last hares (the third litter) appear in the fall, in September. They are called leaf fallings. In the years with early cold periods in late broods, there is a large natural waste. The number of hares in the litter varies in different habitat areas, on average three to six. It has been observed that in those places where females bring three broods, in each of them there are fewer cubs than in areas where the hare brings only one litter.

The number of hares changes dramatically over the years. They are subject to a number of diseases that in the years of high numbers cause massive epizootics and large animal mortality.

The main enemies of the white hare are the fox and the lynx. Hare is attacked by many birds, even the gray crow. The eagle and eagle owl successfully hare, but these birds are currently so small that their value as enemies is negligible.

Hare-hare is somewhat larger than white hare: weight is four to five, sometimes seven kilograms. Much longer than his ears: bent forward, they go beyond the tip of the nose. In the summer the hare is yellowish-fawn-red, brighter than a white hare. In the southern part of its range, its winter coloration does not differ from summer, only the fur becomes more dense and luxuriant. In the northern part of the range, this hare is partially whitening, but its back is always brown.

Rusack - resident open spaces. His favorite habitats are virgin steppes, floodplains of broad rivers, agricultural land, small groves and shrubs. In the depth of conifer plantations rarely comes. Sometimes found in close proximity to settlements, where his

in the fall, attract vegetable gardens, and in winter, gardens and hay. In summer, the hawk eats succulent herbaceous plants, and in winter various dry herbs and their seeds go out to feed on winter crops, eat bark and willow, maple, hawthorn, and penetrate into the gardens, apple trees and pears.

The hare is breeding more intensely than a white hare. In the year he has three litters, and in the south of the range in other years even four and five. Pregnancy lasts 45 - 50 days. The first litter of hare brings in April. In spring brood, there are on average three hares, in summer ones five. Cubs are born weighing about 100 grams and grow fast. After two weeks, their weight increases fourfold, and they begin to feed on vegetation.

Rusak is less susceptible to epizootic, especially helminthic invasions, apparently because it lives in places open to the sun, but compared to white hare, it suffers more from predators.

In summer, due to dense vegetation, traces of hares are difficult to detect. It is easier to pick up a beast from the bed of the animal itself, or to stumble somewhere on a brood of hares, and even then you don’t have time to examine the flashed animal in the thickets. In the evening twilight, hares love to run along paths and roads, and if you look closely, you can see the imprints of their claws on soft soil. Give the presence of hares and balls of their litter.

In winter, when everything is covered with white snow, patterns of hare tracks can be found both in the forest and in the fields.

Unlike most other animals, hares move only with one gait - gallop, and the speed of the run depends on the size of the jump. There are three types of hare heirs: fodder, or fat, chassis and chase.

During feeding the hare moves in very small jumps. He lowers the front paws to the ground, pulling the body out, and then, pushing with both hind legs at the same time, as if pulling them towards the front ones (it does not put its hind legs behind the front ones). Paw prints on the ground of fat pans are closely molded to one another. The trail shows that while eating the hare often sits on its hind legs.

The running trail of a hare is more or less long jumps in which the beast brings back legs to the front. He puts them in parallel, and one of the front paws for greater stability brings a little forward. This legacy is calm, the soles of the hind legs, as on the fat trail, are imprinted completely.

When running fast, especially when the hare is saved from enemies, he puts his hind legs not side by side, but one slightly ahead of the other, with the result that the prints of all four legs of the wrist track are stretched in length and lie close to a straight line. With such a gait, the back paws of the hare leave imprints not on the entire sole (from the claws to the hock), but on only one toes, just like the front ones. He runs like on socks.

Despite the fact that the hare is larger than a hare, its tracks are smaller. The fact is that the white hare is a resident of forests, where the snow is more fluffy, the paws are wider and more pubescent. The narrow paw of the hare is better adapted for fast running. By the way, among hunters, greyhounds are especially valued with narrow, collected, so-called "brown-haired" paw.

The nature of the hare's heritage is different. The white dog moves slowly, in short jumps, feeding little by little and at many points. But if the hares find an aspen piled up by the wind or its tip, they gather in a place like this a few individuals, the snow will be tightly sank here and will be lulled with litters. By the middle of winter, the hares in their habitats fill a whole network of torrent paths that their foxes and lynxes like to use as well.

The hare moves more briskly, as its beds are removed from the feeding places. Fat sites of the hare are more concentrated and usually several animals are collected on them. These rabbits do not fill trails, as in open places the snow is denser than in the forest, and walking is easier on virgin soil.

For both rabbits it is characteristic to entangle traces before laying. Especially sophisticated they tangled hare. In order to knock off the trail of a potential pursuer, he does not go straight from the place of the landing to the bed. The animal makes “loops”, repeatedly crossing its own trail, “vzvoki”, walking along the old trail of 20–30 meters in the opposite direction, and “sweeps” are big leaps to the side. Making a wedge, he tries to jump into a bush, on a thin base, hummock, a bunch of weeds, to a place where his paw prints are less visible. Before he lies down, he makes several loops, slips and sweeps, he chooses a bed in a secluded place and settles his head on his wake, in time to notice the enemy and have time to disappear unnoticed until he unravels the patterns of his tracks.

Belyak also makes loops and wits away from his footprint, but many times smaller than hare. But he climbs to such strong places that not every predator manages to catch him off guard.

On the trail you can learn about the white hare many interesting things. Once in the winter in the forest on the Onega Peninsula, I read in the footsteps a little comic scene from the life of this animal. Very tired, I was returning home on a snowy forest road. Along the groove stretched trail of a white hare. The hare moved in small jumps, stopping near the bushes sticking out from under the snow and tufts of last year's grass. Suddenly in the snow ... a dark dip. This whitefish got into the "teplyachok" - non-frozen bogs. Thin icebreaker could not stand his weight and broke. The animal swiftly jumped out into the snow, sprayed brown peat muck over the white shroud, and after such an unexpected bath, spore forward. Yes, there it was! Not skipping about fifty meters, he jumped into the hole of the grouse. Frightened, apparently, were both. Obliquely rushed into the thicket, and suddenly awakened by a cock even could not fly up. He fell out of the hole first on one side, then rolled over on the other and several times threw his elastic wings over the snow before he took to the air. This little funny story made me laugh, cheered me up, and the road to the house no longer seemed so long and difficult.

Hares are of great commercial value. The skin of the hare is imitated under more expensive furs, and the hare's hair is the best raw material for getting felt. Animal meat is rich in vitamins and is a valuable food product.

The value of hares as a sport hunting object is especially great. In many sporting and hunting farms, special biotechnical measures are being carried out (top dressing, salt-making facilities, resettlement) aimed at increasing the number of animals.

Hunting hares is limited by hunting periods, and in special hunting farms, in addition, and the rate of production.

The brown hare is the largest of the hare family, its length can reach 70 cm, and its weight is 7 kg. On average, an adult hare weighs 4–5 kg. His ears are longer than those of a hare (100–120 mm) and have a longer tail, which has a pointed shape.

The tips of the ears are dark, almost black. The overall coat color is yellowish-fawn-brownish, grayish sides and lighter belly and neck. On a back chubar belt, or a saddle. In winter, the hare brightens considerably (sometimes even whitens), but never becomes completely white. The color of the winter outfit largely depends on the permanent habitat: on whether it is open snow-covered fields or dark weeds. The undercoat is pronounced with slightly curly guard hair. The long hind legs are covered with thick, coarse, medium hard coat. The speed of the hare is higher than that of the hare and reaches 50 km / h. Rusak is originally a steppe animal, but is widely distributed in the forest-steppe zone. With the development of agriculture and in connection with deforestation, the range of the hare has expanded considerably.

Tails of hares: a) hare b) hare

A lot of Rusakov settles on the forest edges and in the bushes. Rusak leads a sedentary lifestyle, stubbornly preferring the places where he was born. The hare lays down for the night within a radius of 400 m from the previous bed, and, only many times frightened by the pursuit, he leaves these places forever. The hare, scared, for example, on the stubble, will not return here the next day, but will lie in a forest belt or forest plantations, but in a day it will be in the same place. In the steppe zone, in hapless winters, hares sometimes migrate en masse to searching for feed. While the height and friability of snow cover permit, the hare will feed on winter crops. With a strong crust or very high snow cover, it becomes a pest of garden trees or it zhiruet along the edges of forest belts and forests. With the onset of the thaw returns to his favorite food. On hard ground it lays down without arranging a lair, but in a loose soil it digs a hole about 8 cm deep and lays down, with its head on elongated front paws and ears pressed. A delicate ear allows him to constantly monitor the environment.

The lair of the steppe hare: a) in section; b) top view

During the summer, hares may have up to four broods in the south, three - in the middle lane, to the east - no more than two. Hares of spring litter are called nastoviki, summer - kolosovikami, the end of summer and early autumn - leaf fall. Broods are small - 2–4 hare. They are born in a small depression, natural or made by a hare, very developed, with open eyes. Mother stays with them for a very short time, feeds with thick, fat milk and leaves for several days. If another feeding hare stumbles on the young, it will feed them, and in general the number of feedings before the start of feeding green fodder is minimal. Young hares still live close to each other for a long time. They become fully mature by 15 months, although they are able to reproduce earlier. Life expectancy is 7-8 years. The gon begins in the middle of winter, the males are very excited at this time, they run around a lot in search of a female, and, gathering around her several individuals at a time, arrange “dances” and duels: stand on their hind legs and “box” each other's front. A hare's pregnancy lasts 45–50 days. The ability to confuse traces of hares is innate, but the ability to adapt and gain experience is great. Horny hares become almost arrogant: they distinguish a hunter from a pedestrian, a tied dog from a running loose, while the young are very careful and too shy, often even to their own detriment. This explains the large elimination of the hare in the first year of life. Rusack is not too susceptible to disease. Working hares, cars, tractors, hares quickly cease to be afraid. Running away, they sometimes try to determine the situation: they sit down or, standing on their hind legs, look around. A hare that has ever been under a greyhound will never do that. In the literature, there is an example of the unusual behavior of the hare: running away from greyhounds, he can push the other hare from the bed and lie down in his place if the dogs are not very close. Both young and seasoned hares avoid approaching forest stands during abundant leaf fall, because the noise of the leaves prevents them from hearing the approaching enemy.
  They don’t like water from trees and high bushes too much, so after a rain it tries to find a place drier. In very cold spring with abundant rains, the hare of the first litter may die, and then in the fall the small number of hares becomes very noticeable, but still the fluctuation of the number of the hare is less pronounced than that of the hare, which is very subject to episodes in rainy years.

A hare can also reach 70 cm in length, but its weight is never more than 5.5 kg (average weight 2.5-3 kg). The ears are not too long with black tips that remain even with a white winter outfit.
  In the summer, the white hare is even darker than the hare and has a dirty brown-reddish color with light belly, there is no blackness on the tail. In countries with a pronounced maritime climate, the white hair does not turn white, since there is little snow there and it does not last long.
  She leads a purely forest way of life, but does not get clogged in the thicket, preferring sparse deciduous forests and forests, interspersed with cuttings, fires and clearings, although she tries not to go to open places, except for trips to the threshing-floor, to gardens and orchards.
  In the middle of summer it sometimes falls on the field of uncooled cereals, but near the saving forest. Overlooks the winter crops, which loves no less than the hare. In the forest it feeds on foliage, shoots of trees, grassy plants. Favorite tree - aspen.
  Although the white hair runs slower than the hare, its back legs are bigger and more powerful relative to the body, the legs of the hind legs are wider and the hair on them is harder than that of the hare. This is explained by the fact that in the forest the snow is looser - the necessary wider “skis”.

Traces of hares: a) hare; b) white hare

For a daytime rest, he chooses strong places, except for periods of leaf fall and drops, when he prefers to lie down in the open. Especially active in the early morning hours. Hearing in a white hare is developed exclusively, but the sight and smell is not very. He may not find a quiet man. In the spring after the hunger strike they accumulate in the meadows with young grass that is eaten with greed, while losing their vigilance. Gon passes rapidly, and fights often occur between males. In the tundra, the white hare can have only one litter, but up to 7 hare, and in the middle lane and to the south - 2–3, but hare in each litter is 2 times less. Hare sighted and independent already at birth, covered with thick hair, grow very quickly and are able to run pretty fast. The brood keeps close to the mother, and, sometimes, the hare, like birds, removes the predator from the hare, imitating the wound. Already at the end of the first week of life, the hares begin to eat grass.

• < Назад
• Forward\u003e