[JAC: This edition was written and produced by Matthew Cobb]
These were taken by Kate Morgan of St Andrews University in Scotland, who is doing postdoctoral research into nest-building by birds.
Once long ago, she was Matthew Cobb’s student at the University of Manchester. Her photos show the brown or European hare, Lepus europaeus. Kate says ‘These photos were taken in my garden near St Andrews. This year I had a female have at least one litter in the garden so this may well be one of her offspring.’ According to the Mammal Society, the brown hare has ‘Very long black-tipped ears; large, long, powerful hind legs. Much redder than the mountain hare, and with a black-topped tail. Yellow flecking to the fur, more so than grey-brown rabbits. Larger than rabbits.’ This individual is not at all reddish, nor does it have a black-topped tail. I suspect that is because it is a young individual, but mammals aren’t my thing.
Isn’t there still disagreement about the status of Lepus europaeus as a separate species from Lepus capensis?
This free article from 2009 talks about hybrid hares in Iberia with Lepus timidus… http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/363/1505/2831
“Such high levels of introgressive hybridization should discourage attempts to revise hare taxonomy based solely on mtDNA.”
PS Lovely hare pics!
Apparently this creature isn’t kosher.
Who da thunk it?
http://www.storm-crow.co.uk/animals/european_hare.html
“A traditional English dish now rarely seen was potted hare, where the meat was cooked and then covered in a thick layer of butter as a preservative. The dish would then be fit to eat for several months and served with bread as a cold starter. Observant Jews will not eat hare as it is deemed not Kosher”.
I guess because it divideth not the hoof, nor cheweth the cud.
The dish sounds like rabbit confit. Butter…mmmmmm.
Nice photos…the hare looks hyper aware.