Page 17 - World of Animals - Issue #31

The mad March hare

LEFT
Hares can run at speeds
of up to 60km/h (35mph)
and have extremely
powerful leg muscles built
for endurance sprinting
Famous hares
in fiction

March Hare
The trusty companion of the Mad
Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s
Adventures In Wonderland, the
March Hare thinks it’s always
time for a spot of tea.
The Hare And The Tortoise
The fable that teaches us that
‘slow and steady wins the race’
features an arrogant hare that
believes a tortoise could never
beat him.

Arctic hare Woolly hare Cape hare © Denali National Park and Preserve; N.A.Nazeer; Shah Jahan; Alamy; FLPA; Nature PL; Thinkstock
Like most others in the family, this hare’s coat Native to the Tibetan plateau and able to survive Found in the open area of Africa, the Middle East
changes colour for camouflage. In the winter, in dry habitats, these hares occupy land even and central Asia, cape hares don’t sleep deeply
its white coat blends with the snow cover, but in rodents can’t abide. The bones in their legs are as it leaves them vulnerable, but close their eyes
summer it moults and takes on a charcoal grey fused to reduce the pressure on them while to grab small snatches of rest during the day.
colour. The Arctic hare is also equipped with well- retaining strength, as the local predators, such as Unlike other hares, cape hares sometimes borrow
furred feet and long claws that act like crampons. buzzards, chase hares to the point of exhaustion. marmot burrows when it is extremely cold.

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