A story about a hare in winter. What can you tell your child about hares
Hare hare, or in lat. Lepus europaeus is a hare-like mammal belonging to its large representatives.
External signs
A hare in the hare family can be recognized by its large size. In length, it often grows to 65-68 centimeters, and gains weight from 4 to 6 kilograms. The largest individuals, reaching a mass of up to 7 kilograms, are found in the northern and northeastern areas of its habitat.
The description of the animal includes its main features of the external features of the species:
- regardless of its large size, its constitution is fragile,
- the hare differs from white hares in longer (up to 14 centimeters) ears and a larger (7-14 centimeters) tail in the form of a wedge, covered with black fur on top,
- The hind legs of the hare differ from those of the hare - the foot is shorter than that of the hare, which is explained by the habitat of hare, where the snow covers are shallow and with a hard crust.
The hare's coat is shiny, with curls, it is painted white on the belly, the shade is darker on the sides than on the dorsal region. External classification is clearly visible in the photo. The color of the animal depends on the season:
- during the summer, the hare is painted in shades of ocher - gray, brown, red or Brown color, with dark streaks, folded undercoat tips,
- in winter, the animal changes the color of its fur to a lighter color, but, unlike the white hare, it is never white, their head and ears are at the ends, and the front part of the back is always dark.
With the onset of spring and autumn, the hares of the hare undergo a seasonal molt. At the same time, the spring fur change is delayed for 75-80 days, starting closer to the end of March and ending in May, and runs from the head to the tail section. Wool that has grown over the summer at the onset of autumn from September changes to thicker winter fur, but unlike spring, already in the opposite direction - from the hip through the ridge in the direction of the front.
Habitat geography
The main habitat of the hare is the steppe, tundra thickets and forest-steppe. It can be found in the European steppe massifs, on the North African continent and in Asia.
The northern border of the hare's habitat passes through the Irish and Scottish territories, in the area of Sweden and Finland. The southern border covers Turkey and Iran, the northern part of Arabia and Africa, the Transcaucasian region and the north of Kazakhstan.
On the territory of North America, the hare was settled artificially, having brought it in 1893 through New York. In 1912, they tried to settle him in the Canadian province of Ontario. Having acclimatized in Australia and New Zealand, it was included in the list of animal pests.
In Russia, this species can be seen throughout European territory, they live up to the Ladoga northern shores and Lake Onega, they live along the Northern Dvina River. The border of the animal's residence passes through the Kirov and Perm regions, capturing the areas Ural mountains, then - through the Caspian region and in the north to Karaganda. There are settlements of Rusks in Southern Siberia and the Far East. Attempts by scientists to acclimatize the hare on the squares of Buryatia ended in failure.
It happens that in the summer, hare rises to mountain heights from 1.5 to 2.0 kilometers, descending from the heights only at the onset of winter.
Hares prefer hares for movement and life open areas in the form of fields and meadows, meadows and large clearings. In deep coniferous forests, the animal lives extremely rarely, in to a greater extent live in deciduous areas and woodlands.
In forest-steppes and steppes, hares choose agricultural crops of grain, copses and shrubs. Very often, animals tend to move closer to settlements and natural bodies of water.
The number of hares today is about several million. Their lifespan and the number of individuals are influenced primarily by weather and food factors. For many individuals, the snowy winter seasons with blizzards, which prevent the animals from feeding, become destructive. Springs with alternating heat and frost, during which the early appeared broods perish, also have an unfavorable effect on the population of the hare. Among the natural enemies - the hunters of the hare - wolves, foxes and lynxes.
Habits and role in human life
Hare habits
The habits of the hare characterize them as sedentary animals living in a certain territory. They prefer not to leave the inhabited area if there is a sufficient amount of feed in this place. In other regions, hares in search of food move every day, overcoming tens of kilometers. Sometimes observed seasonal migrations in the direction of settlements and less snowy on the edges.
The activity of the hares begins at dusk and at night, moreover, in the first part of the night and just before the onset of the morning. During the day, they can be activated only during the rut (mating).
In the summer, the laying of hare looks like a shallow hole, hidden from prying eyes under a bush. At the same time, hares do not line up permanent minks. For rest, they dig in temporary huts - daytime burrows that save animals from the annoying heat. As a resting place, hares can use other people's burrows - badgers or foxes.
Hare hares run faster than white hares, reaching speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour, while tracking with long jumps confusing tracks. They are good swimmers. The voice of the hare cannot be heard only in danger of being caught or wounded, animals can make shrill sounds.
The female hare calls on the hares with a quiet cry, and the male, when alarmed, only makes sounds with clicking teeth. They often use paws to communicate with each other, the sound of which resembles playing a drum.
In spring, the hares lie on high surfaces warmed by the sun, and in winter, hares move to the deep snow of a burrow of burrows up to two meters long. Often, in the fall, animals do laying in haystacks.
Hare
HARE-RUSAK: Hunting in late autumn.
Hare
European hare in Losiny Island, July 2014.
Rusaks for man
Under natural conditions, the hare lives for 6-7 years, in rare exceptions, the life expectancy can be up to 12 years. It belongs to game animals and serves as an object of hunting with hounds and sports, being valuable for fur and meat. The skins of the hare are used for high-quality felt and for sewing some types of fur products.
In many countries, these animals are classified as agricultural pests, since hares can harm winter crops, harm fruit trees, gnawing up to 15 landings per night.
Beyond the harm done agriculture brown hares are among the animals that carry serious diseases such as coccidiosis, pastelresis, tularemia, and brucellosis.
Feed ration and reproduction
Among the main food for hares in summer are vegetation and tree shoots. Animals prefer foliage and stems, but can sometimes feast on the roots of shrubs. On the offensive summer period hares go to seeds.
In summer, the food ration becomes much richer and includes wild dandelions and tansy, alfalfa and clover, as well as cultivated buckwheat, cereals and sunflowers. Among the delicacies for the hare are vegetables and melons.
Not all seeds are completely digested by the organisms of animals, thus the hares act as distributors of seeds along the trajectory of their movement.
The basis of nutrition in winter is made up of the same seeds and grass rags remaining garden crops, which hares begin to look for and extract from under the layer of snow. In addition, in winter, the animals feed on apple, maple and pear wood, gnaw on willow and aspen.
The breeding period of the hare is directly dependent on their habitat.
During the breeding season from March to September, Western European hares manage to bring 4 hereditary broods, some even five. In a more favorable climate, hares breed throughout the entire calendar year.
On Russian territory, the hare rut lasts from February to March, then from April to May, and the third in June.
Pregnancy in female hare lasts 45 days, the brood can count from 1 to 9 hares. Such a difference in the number of offspring is associated with reproductive ability - the fewer reproduction cycles, the more the female brings in rabbits.
European hares are born sighted and with fur.
The weight of an average newborn hare is 80-150 grams. By the fifth day of life, the rabbits begin to move actively, at the age of two weeks they gain weight up to 400 grams, actively eating grass and by the age of one month they become completely independent.
Hares belong to the family of mammals of the order of hares, which, in addition to the hares themselves, also include rabbits.
Spreading
Hares live all over the world, with the exception of Antarctica. They successfully acclimatized in the territories of New Zealand, the islands of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. There are four species in our country: white hare, brown hare, tolai and Manchu.
Description
Hares are small or medium-sized animals, body length is 12-74 cm, weight reaches 5.5 kg. Hind limbs large species lengthened. Females are usually larger than males. The ears are long (at least half the length of the head), wedge-shaped. The tail is short, almost invisible from the outside. The front legs of hares are five-toed, the hind legs are four- or five-toed, the foot is quite long. The fingers have straight, pointed claws.
Hares are covered with a soft, thick hairline, which changes throughout the year according to the seasons in color, as well as structure and density. Hares molt 2-3 times a year.
Body coloration is varied depending on the season. In summer, the hare can be gray, brown or black-brown, and in winter it brightens or becomes entirely white.
Reproduction
Hares are very fertile, becoming sexually mature at 10 months of age. Hares bring on average three litters per year. The number of cubs in a brood can reach 12 individuals. The life span of hares is 8-9 years, and they show maximum fertility from 2 to 7 years, from the fourth year of life, fertility decreases.
Nutrition
The diet depends on the season. Legumes, underground mushrooms and herbs are eaten by hares in summer. In winter, the bark and small branches of young trees - willow, hazel, aspen and birch - become food. By the spring, animals begin to gather on lawns with young grass and are so addicted to fresh food that they lose their inherent caution.
Lifestyle
Hares lead a terrestrial life, do not hibernate. They often move by jumping at a speed of up to 70 km / h. Separate types hares are great runners.
Hares do not have permanent burrows, they constantly change their places of lying. In winter, hare beds are located in thickets of bushes, dead wood and other hard-to-reach places... And in autumn, when there are frequent rains and water is constantly dripping from the trees, the long-eared ones settle in open meadows in the grass.
Economic value
Hares are an object of developed fishing, especially in the northern regions. Fur skins, meat and hair for the felt industry are obtained from them.
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For preschoolers about hares
Sotnikova Valentina Nikolaevna - teacher-speech therapist at MADOU "Child Development Center - Kindergarten No. 33 "Rainbow" of the city of Gubkin, Belgorod region.The material is recommended for parents of older preschoolers.
What can you tell your child about hares
The hare is a wild animal. In spring and summer, the fur coat on hares is gray with reddish-brown markings. Among the dense grasses, Oblique and you will not notice. The ears of the hare are long, and the tail is fluffy and short. The hind legs are longer than the front ones. During the jump, the hare throws its hind legs forward first, and then the front ones. Therefore, the hare easily runs up the hill, but it is much more difficult for him to go down.
The people call the hare the Oblique, because his eyes are not in the center of the muzzle, but on the sides, and the animal can see what is being done from the side and even from behind.
The hares have sharp teeth, with which he, like scissors, cuts off the bark from trees.
Hares do not make a burrow and do not collect food for the winter. During the day they sleep, hiding in the thicket of the forest: under the roots of a tree twisted by a storm or huddled in a hole under the bushes. From the winter cold, the hare hopes to take refuge in the forest thicket, burrowing in fluffy snow under the bush. In the fall, the hare changes its summer gray fur coat to a snow-white, warm and fluffy one. That's the whole hare preparation for winter.
There is little food in the forest in winter, so the hares get close to the haystacks and feast on hay. Sometimes they come to the gardens and gnaw the cabbage stumps, and if the trunks of young apple trees are in the garden, the hare can gnaw the bark from them.
Often a hare gallops through the forest after a moose and picks up young aspen shoots after it.
A lot of enemies lie in wait for a bunny in the forest: a wolf, a marten, a fox, a hawk, an eagle, an owl - all of them are not averse to feasting on delicious hare.
Fleeing from the chase, the Scythe tangles the tracks, winds, makes huge jumps to the side in order to knock off the trail of a fox, a wolf or hunting dogs.
In the spring, the rabbit has fluffy, sighted rabbits.
Vocabulary work:
1.- Describe appearance hare.
2. - Name the hare family: hare - hare - hares
3. - What is the name of the hare's house? - The hare has no home, he sleeps under the bushes, the roots of a tree twisted by the storm.
4. - What does the hare eat? - makes forays into vegetable gardens and gnaws cabbage stumps, carrots there, gnaws tree bark, juicy forest plants.
In winter, hares feast on collective farm hay and young tree shoots.
5. How does a hare prepare for winter? - By winter, the hare does not make any reserves. In the fall, he changes from a gray fur coat to a white one.
Activate the verbs in the child's dictionary:
jumps, dodges, tangles, rolls, gnaws. Explain the meaning of these words.
Learn the riddles:
1) What a forest beast
Got up like a column
Under the pine
And stands among the grass -
Ears are bigger than the head
2) Runs off the hill,
Pressing your ears
3) Through the field straight
Rides a white collar.
The cunning white hare got its name thanks to the well-known ability to change the summer gray-brown fur coat to the winter snow-white one. This northern representative of the hare-like order differs from the hare in short black ears and wider and longer paws, which are covered with thick warm wool... In winter, long hair also grows on the belly of the animal, due to which the hare can lie motionless in the snow for a long time, remaining invisible to enemies. The hare usually arranges a lie near the bush - this way it is easier for him to hide his black ears.
Spring is a very difficult time for the hare. To get rid of the white fur, which stands out noticeably against the background of the reviving nature, the hare begins to roll on the ground, leaving everywhere behind shreds of white wool, which birds use with pleasure to arrange nests. In addition, very often at this time, hares have to flee from floods.
Photo: white hares in spring.
White hares most often inhabit dense coniferous forests northern regions... Today they can be found in the vast territories of northern Eurasia: from Scandinavia to the Far East. Settlement is inherent in white hags, so they rarely decide on a long journey in search of food. Mass migrations are typical only for tundra representatives of the species. Too high snow hides all vegetation of the tundra, and the animal has to travel hundreds of kilometers to find food. Whites do not build permanent dwellings. In winter, the white hare sleeps in a small hole in the snow, from where it tramples whole paths to the feeding place. It is on these tracks that hunters track the hare during the hunt by tracking. V very coldy the hare has to dig snow holes. In summer, white hares sometimes choose the abandoned burrows of other animals (marmots or polar foxes) for dwelling.
Beautiful photos of a white hare:
The usual diet of a white hare includes legumes, grass, young shoots, mushrooms and seeds. Closer to winter, the fluffy animal switches to feeding on bark and branches of trees. The shyness and cowardice attributed to hares in fairy tales are in fact fiction. An adult hare is a rather impudent animal, and, as experienced hunters say, it is impudent. If overtaken in the field, he is able to fight back, fighting off with strong hind legs. The hare's angle of view is 180 º, which allows him to see everything that happens from the sides and from behind. In order to see directly in front of him, he has to turn his head with one side or the other, so the impression is created that the hare is mowing.
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