Diet

A broad-spectrum herbivore with a very pronounced seasonality in its diet. During the warm season it feeds mainly on the green parts of plants (eats herbaceous plants, mainly various grasses and legumes, with a significant part of the diet taken up by raspberries and blueberries, does not refuse sedges and horsetail), and likes to feast on seeds and fruits, some species of mushrooms. In the second half of autumn, when grasses are wilting, they still eat them, but gradually start to switch more and more to the fine twigs of shrubs and trees, so that the proportion of woody plants in the diet increases rapidly. In winter, small twigs, shoots and bark of trees and shrubs are the main food, although they also try to get access to thistles and mints when munching snow. Various woody plants of the willow family are more frequently nibbled, including aspen, maple, even oak, alder, rowan, as are hazel, rowan, gorse, and occasionally hawthorn. To absorb minerals, they occasionally scrub the shed antlers and skeletal remains of elk bulls and roe deer. After a period of fasting, they are characteristically coprophagic – they eat their own excrement.

Habitat

A distinctive forest animal. Avoids open areas. Inhabits various stands bordering raised bogs or overgrown clearings with burns, clearings. Prefers deciduous or mixed forests. Prefers mainly patches with dense undergrowth and well-developed undergrowth. Tends to settle near a water body.

Important and interesting facts

The white hare is slightly smaller than the brown hare. It can be easily distinguished from the brown hare by its tail, which is white all year round in the white hare (the top of the brown hare’s tail is black). Unlike the brown hare, the white hare’s ears, which bend forward, are not longer than the head. In summer, the topcoat is rusty brown or rusty grey, while in winter the fur is completely white, with only the tips of the ears being black.

The white hare is a good swimmer. Like all hares, it has very good hearing. The sense of smell is good only at short distances, but the eyesight is poor in sharpness and depth. The position of the hare’s eyes allows it to look forwards, backwards, sideways and upwards without turning its head. Natural enemies of white hares include lynx, martens, foxes, wolves, stray dogs, eagles, chicken hawks and large falconry birds.

In danger, the white hare can run faster than 60 km/h in a short distance.

Information sources: latvijasdaba.lv, Wikipedia

Photos: Māris Kreicbergs