Hares and rabbits | Leporidae

Hazen en konijnen | Liebres y conejos

The ears are long and thin and richly veined, so that they not only hear but shed heat — the warmer the country, the larger the ear. The eyes sit high and so far to the side that the animal can see behind it. The hind legs are far longer than the front pair and, at speed, land outside the forefeet; the soles are furred rather than padded, which grips on snow and loose sand. Within the family two ways of life diverge. Hares do not dig: they give birth in a shallow form above ground, and the young arrive furred, seeing and with muscle enough to move. Rabbits dig an extensive system of tunnels, live in groups, and bear naked blind young in a breeding stop lined with wool from the doe's own belly. In both, ovulation is triggered by mating itself, and litters follow one another so fast that a female may be pregnant while still suckling.