Desert hares are mostly solitary animals. They communicate with other hares during the mating season and when predators are spotted. They communicate using tactile and acoustic techniques, by drumming their feet to alert danger. Other hares may hear the warning, or feel the vibrations in the ground, if they are nearby. During the mating season, desert hares secrete scent products from special glands located in their groin area and under their chin. They rub scent secretions on their fur and against rocks and shrubs to deposit the smell. Dominant males leave scent tracks in their feces and urine, to mark mating territories; this will repel younger males, but will attract larger dominant males. When this happens, males fight by kicking and boxing, the victorious male will remain in that breeding territory. Likewise, the male mating scent also attracts females in estrus. Females track with their urine and feces to advertise their reproductive status to males. Other than marking mating territories, desert hares are usually non-territorial and do not fight for food or space.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones ; scent marks ; vibrations
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; vibrations ; chemical
According to the IUCN Redlist, there are no data regarding the population or threats to desert hares.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
As stated previously, desert hares tend to stay away from humans, but in some areas where niches of humans and hares do overlap, they can be a little troublesome. Desert hares consume a considerable amount of plant life for survival. In areas where humans and hares share habitats this may become an issue. Hares will eat many forms of vegetation and will often eat plant life that citizens want left alone. They get into gardens and yards and consume whatever vegetation is available.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
For the most part, desert hares tend to avoid human interaction. But humans still find ways to derive economic, recreational and even culinary benefits from them. Historically, humans have relied on hares as an important food source and have used them in pelt trades. Some Asian countries, such as China, have hunted desert hares as a recreational sport. Desert hares also play an important role in seed dispersion. This aids plant diversity and even extends the range of certain desert plants.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material
Desert hares play many important roles in the desert ecosystem; their most important role is likely the food source they provide to desert carnivores. They are food to a number of birds of prey and small mammals, such as foxes. Seed dispersion by animals is very important in the desert habitat and desert hares play a role in this process. Desert hares often eat seeds and berries. As they move about their home range and defecate, they disperse the seeds to different areas, allowing for growth. Although uncommon, some desert hares resort to using burrows built by red foxes and sand foxes as a means of safety, or shelter from the sun. Abandoned forms create resting areas for daytime animals and are often used by small rodents, such as mice and gerbils, as entryways to burrows. This commensal behavior allows small mammals to benefit from their behavior.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds; creates habitat
Desert hares are herbivorous mammals that meet their nutritional and moisture requirements by eating a variety of plants. They also eat seeds, berries, roots, and twigs. Their procumbent incisors make it easy to break apart more fibrous materials, such as roots and twigs. Saltbushes (Atriplex), a common plant found in climates with salty or gravelly soil, are a large part of their diet. Saltbushes are adapted to grow in salty or alkaline sites and are often the only plants to tolerate these conditions. They can form large stands spanning for miles, providing large food availability for the hares. Saltbushes grow in areas of high salinity and are adapted to tolerate up to six percent salinity in the water. This indicates that their kidneys must be physiologically adapted to tolerate high salt intake.
Plant Foods: roots and tubers; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: herbivore (Frugivore , Granivore , Lignivore)
Desert hares (Lepus tibetanus) are only found in the Palearctic region of Asia. Their geographic distribution includes Afghanistan and Baluchistan, extending eastward through parts of northern Pakistan and Kashmir, and continuing east to northwestern parts of the Altai Mountains. They can also be found in parts of southern Mongolia and northwestern China.
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native )
Desert hares are found in a number of different habitats. They inhabit scrub and grassland areas of the desert, semi-desert, and steppe habitats. Desert hares prefer to live in large open habitats, like other members of the hare and rabbit family. They do not typically live in burrows. Instead they run and flee as a mode predator avoidance, as opposed to to hiding underground. They lie in 'forms', which are shallow dips in the ground, and they rest under vegetation to help keep cool. They build simple nests above ground with different types of vegetation and sleep in these nests at night. Desert hares' fur provides camouflage, which helps hide them from predators.
Range elevation: 2,500 to 3,000 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune
Little is known about the longevity of desert hares. However, they are expected to fend for themselves when they are about 20 days old. Most will be killed or eaten before they are even a year old. Overall, the lifespan of wild hares is relatively low, although they have been known to reach up to five years of age. In captivity, hares have reached ages of six to seven years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 1 to 365 days.
Hares are a good example of Bergmann’s rule: the further north you travel from the equator, typically, the larger the species. At the equator, hares weigh about 2 kg or less, in temperate regions they average about 3 kg, and weights in the far north reach about 5 kg. Desert hares weigh between 1.6 to 2.5 kg and reach lengths of 40 to 76 cm.
Desert hares have a very sleek slender body, with a relatively small head. Their dorsal pelage is sandy yellow and may be tinged black. In the winter, they turn a grayer sandy-brown as their fur thickens. Their hips are grayish and the outsides of their hind legs and forefeet are white. Their forefeet are also well-furred. Their underside is pale yellow to white. Their ears are wide, with a blackish brown color at the tips and their tail is blackish brown as well. A light ring encircles both of their eyes. They have long premaxillary bones, but a short nasal bone. Their supraorbital bone is curved upward and they have a broad zygomatic arch, along with large auditory bullae and large procumbent incisors. Desert hares are sometimes confused with their relative, woolly hares. The range of woolly hares extends through western and central China, slightly overlapping with desert hares. Both species share many characteristics, such as long premaxillary bones, short nasal bones, large procumbent incisors and similar coat color. Desert hares also have a small overlap in range distribution with tolai hares, but they are fairly easy to distinguish. Unlike desert hares, tolai hares have laurel red stripes, solid gray hips and a long nasal bone.
Range mass: 1,625 to 2,500 g.
Range length: 40 to 76 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry ; polymorphic
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
Running up to 45 miles per hour, desert hares rely on speed to avoid predators. Because they live in open areas and often do not dig burrows, desert hares must rely on speed and agility to escape pursuing predators. They are also equipped with large, laterally set eyes. These eyes are very good at detecting motion in almost any direction, due to their nearly circular field of vision. Their coat also provides camouflage. They lie on vegetation, flattening and elongating their bodies to blend in with their surroundings. This is very beneficial when the animal needs rest, or when they are trying to avoid heat exhaustion. Desert hares, along with many other species of hares and rabbits, give warning signals when a predator is approaching. They thump their hind feet and have distress calls to warn other hares of danger.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: aposematic ; cryptic
All hares communicate largely through smell, especially during the mating season. Desert hares secrete scent products from special glands located in their groin area and under their chin. They rub pheromones from scent glands on their fur against rocks and shrubs to deposit the smell to the environment. They may leave scent tracks with their feces or urine, to mark territories or show female reproductive status. Scent secretion plays a key role in sexual communication, as well as social hierarchy signaling. Male desert hares undergo rapid hormonal changes during the mating season. They become much bolder and engage in fights with other males while pursuing a female. Because scent secretions play a role in signaling social rank, this has a major impact on which males choose to engage in physical activity. Dominant males often fight to compete for a female. They kick with their hind feet and fight with their forefeet, much like a fighter in a boxing match. Males are very aggressive with females before mating. If a female is unwilling to mate, the male will often kick and even bite the female, which can lead to serious injury. To prevent bodily harm, females are often submissive to larger dominant males during mating. Both male and female desert hares are promiscuous, so they mate with multiple hares throughout mating seasons, never forming long-lasting pair bonds.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Reproduction occurs many times in a given year, depending on the amount of resources available; usually between four or five times. If resources are scarce, the female's desire to mate will be suppressed. Desert hares usually have small litters compared to other common hares and jackrabbits, due to lack of resources. Litter sizes range from one to three young, called 'leverets'. This is a small litter when compared to hares native to the far north, such as snowshoe hares. Hares from the north usually only conceive once, but the litter size may contain as many as 17 leverets. Desert hares comparatively small litter sizes may explain why they reproduce so many times a year.
The average birth mass of desert hares is unknown. However their close relatives, cape hares, have an average birth mass of 118.4 grams. The birth mass of desert hares may be similar. The gestation period of desert hares is about 50 days; this is a relatively long gestation time when compared to rabbits. Hares do not give birth underground or in burrows, but instead make 'forms'. Forms are shallow depressions in the ground, or a flattened area of vegetation. Due to their lack of physical protection, their young are highly adapted. They are born with open eyes and fully furred bodies. This allows them to fend for themselves shortly after birth. Desert hares provide very minimal care for their young and have an unusual nursing system. Young are allowed to extract milk from the female only once every 24 hours, for about five minutes or less. The lactation period lasts between 17 to 23 days, at the end of this time, leverets are independent. There is very little social connection or contact between a mother desert hares and her young. This is believed to be a survival adaptation, decreasing the chances of mother and young being spotted by predators.
Breeding interval: Desert hares breed 4 to 5 times per year.
Breeding season: They begin mating in early spring and continue mating until late fall (April to November). Some desert hares will mate all year, regardless of the month.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 3.
Average gestation period: 50 days.
Range time to independence: 17 to 23 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 to 5 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 to 5 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous
Male and female desert hares provide little parental care, post birth. Males are usually not involved at all, they spend much of their energy mating. However, if a male sees an adult female attacking her young, they will intervene. This behavior in leporids is known as policing. Young are born with eyes open and a fully furred body, making them ready for their environment as soon as they are born. Mothers allow young to suckle once a day for five minutes or less, the lactation period last 17 to 23 days. After young are born, females invest very little, for a very short amount of time.
Parental Investment: precocial ; female parental care ; pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); post-independence association with parents; inherits maternal/paternal territory
The desert hare (Lepus tibetanus) is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Northwest China, and the western Indian subcontinent. Little is known about this species except that it inhabits grassland and scrub areas of desert and semi-desert. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern."
The desert hare is a lightly-built species with a small head. It grows to a head-and-body length of between 400 and 480 mm (16 and 19 in) with a tail of 87 to 109 mm (3.4 to 4.3 in). The upper parts are sandy-yellow to drab brown glossed with black, the hip area is greyish and the underparts yellowish-white. The eye is surrounded by an area of pale skin and the ears are broad, lined with tufted hair inside and tipped with black. The forefeet are white as are the outer surfaces of the rear legs. The upper side of the tail has a brownish-black stripe. During the winter, the coat becomes thicker and a sandy-grey colour.[2][3]
The desert hare is native to Central Asia, its range extending from Afghanistan and northern Pakistan to Mongolia, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Gansu and Inner Mongolia in northern China. It is found at altitudes of up to 3,500 or 4,000 m (11,500 or 13,100 ft) in arid and semi-arid areas, scrubby desert, grassland and steppe.[1]
The desert hare is herbivorous; its diet includes roots, foliage, stems, berries and seeds. It also will sometimes feed on cacti for moisture. It mainly feeds around dusk but sometimes emerges during the day. Like other hares, it does not dig itself a burrow, but lies concealed in a shallow depression. Females have up to three litters per year, typically of three to ten young each time.[2]
The desert hare has a wide range but the population size and trend is not known. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern" on the grounds that no particular threats are recognised, and if the population is shrinking, it is likely to be doing so at too slow a rate to qualify for a more threatened category.[1]
The desert hare (Lepus tibetanus) is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Northwest China, and the western Indian subcontinent. Little is known about this species except that it inhabits grassland and scrub areas of desert and semi-desert. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern."
