Hare Style

You will never feel the same about the Hare (Lepus europaeus) if you read the book Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. The author, who is a political adviser in the UK happened to find a leveret (baby hare from the French for ‘little hare’, lievre) a few days old which she took home and raised. Her account of the extraordinary relationship she develops with it while preparing to return it to the wild is awe-inspiring.

I only have one photo of a hare but it is enough to see some of its features: its eyes are on the side of its narrow head and each one can see 180 degrees, so that even though this hare has its back to me, it can see me. How the brain handles eyes that are not always looking at the same thing, I cannot imagine.

The ears are very long, which is one way to quickly distinguish it from its cousin the rabbit, and it keeps its longish tail pointing down not up like the cottontail of a rabbit. Its feet are very long and its speed is incredible – up to 50 kmh – while its capacity to leap and turn and dodge is unmatched.

Pliny in the 77AD book Natural History said the hare is designed to be the prey of every creature. There is far more written about how to cook a hare than how to raise one. Perhaps that is because they have never been domesticated, unlike rabbits. They were introduced by Europeans to Australia for the purpose of hunting and coursing (a once-popular but now banned sport involving dogs chasing hares).

Hares are a pest to revegetation projects, nibbling off tree seedlings and gnawing the bark of saplings, and for this reason are often shot – I have done it myself. They are a pest to agriculture also. However, they have never become a plague of rabbit or cane-toad proportions and are restricted to South-eastern states.

Hares make a nest in grass called a ‘form’ to which they return every night. Their instinct when threatened is to freeze and trust their remarkable camouflage, meaning they often get killed by agricultural machinery. Rabbits give birth underground to blind, hairless, helpless kittens. The leveret is ready to run from the moment of birth. Mother hare places it in a nest where it waits motionless for her regular return to feed it milk. After 8 weeks, it is weaned and on its own.

If you get a chance to get up close to a hare, they are exceptionally beautiful with their many different colours, their furry feet and ears, and enormous eyes. I recommend Chloe Dalton’s book; a deep look at any part of nature increases one’s awe and reverence for all of it.