Is a Hare a Rabbit in Disguise?

Are you like me and never knew the difference between a hare and a rabbit? I had always assumed it was a regional name - some parts of the world used hare and other used rabbit. Where I live, we only have rabbits and that is only because they were introduced at the time of colonization by the British and they are now quite a pest in the wild.

So what are the differences, if not only in name, between a hare and a rabbit? Can you tell by just looking at it whether it is one or the other?

Vintage Germany, Young Hare by Dürer (1502) poster by edsimoneit

Hares are usually larger than rabbits and have larger ears. They also usually have black markings on their fur, which rabbits do not have. Physically, these are the main differences between a hare and a rabbit, except for when they are born. Hares are born with their eyes open and already have their fur as they tend to live in nests above the ground. Alternatively, most rabbits are born hairless and are blind, due to the safety of being born in a burrow.

Black-Tailed Hare, John James Audubon Postcards by vintagetreasurechest

On a more scientific level, rabbits and hares belong to the same order, but that's about as close as they get, so I don't think we could even say they are second or third cousins, but very distantly related in the animal family tree. Hares have 48 chromosomes, whereas the rabbit has less with 44 chromosomes.

A juvenile Arctic hare feeds on spring flowers Posters by NationalGeographic

But when all is said and done, you could argue that the rabbit is far more popular than the hare - it is the Easter Bunny and we all know that is a bunny rabbit not a bunny hare. Nevermind the large array of bunnies for babies and the most famous bunny of all, Bugs Bunny. It seems the bunny rabbit has won the popularity stakes and is often used in art and here are just a few cute bunnies to prove the point!