Iberian hare
| Iberian hare | ||||||||||||
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Iberian hare ( Lepus granatensis ) |
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| Lepus granatensis | ||||||||||||
| Rosenhauer , 1856 |
The Iberian hare ( Lepus granatensis ) is a species of mammal from the rabbit family (Leporidae). It is widespread all over the Iberian Peninsula up to the northeast, and also on Mallorca .
features
The Iberian hare reaches a head-torso length of 44 to 48 centimeters and a tail length of 9.3 to 11.2 centimeters with a weight of 2 to 2.6 kilograms. The ear length is 9.0 to 10.0 centimeters, the rear foot length 11.2 to 12.1 centimeters. A noticeable sexual dimorphism is not pronounced. The larger hares , the Iberian hare next to the Körgpergröße and lower weight and details of Zahnbau primarily by the clearly delineated from the white belly fur brown back coloring and by white stripes on the front legs and a white face also strip differs. Within the distribution area and between the subspecies there are slight differences in the coloration and the relative length of the ears and hind feet, and especially the animals in northwest Spain are significantly darker than in the rest of the distribution area.
distribution
The distribution area of the Iberian Hare includes almost the entire Iberian Peninsula and includes Portugal and most of Spain . In the north of Spain the Iberian hare is only found locally, where the brown hare ( Lepus europaeus ), which lives in the Pyrenees , the Basque Country and Catalonia , occurs, as well as the Castroviejo hare ( Lepus castroviejoi ), which is only a small one Inhabited area in the Cantabrian Mountains . In most of the northern Spanish provinces, the Iberian hare and the brown hare live parapatric , with the brown hare populating the northern regions and the Iberian hare populating the southern regions.
The Iberian hare also lives on the Balearic -Insel Mallorca and is considered extinct on the island of Ibiza , where he both islands has probably settled by early settlers to launch. The species was also introduced to the Perpignan area in southern France .
Way of life
The Iberian hare lives mainly in open terrain within its range. In the north-west of Spain it prefers moist forest areas, in central Spain it occurs in dry agricultural land and in the coastal area mainly in sandy dune areas. The altitude distribution ranges from sea level to altitudes of around 1900 meters in the Pyrenees . On Mallorca, the animals also live in dry agricultural areas and in bushes. The resting places are generally more in the area of denser vegetation. The areas of activity of the animals hardly differ between the sexes and are mainly dependent on the availability of food and the characteristics of the landscape, they range from 24 to 28 hectares in structurally rich habitats to 40 hectares in agricultural land.
The animals are crepuscular and nocturnal, during the day they hide in shrubs, bushes or tall grass. Their diet consists mainly of grasses and herbs, but they also take roots, tubers, flowers and other plant material. The proportion of grasses is around 70% of the total diet, with the proportion varying greatly over the year with around 80% in winter and around 55% in summer on average. The most common types of grass consumed by the animals are Anthoxanthum odoratum , Secale cereale and Agrostis species.
The animals can reproduce all year round, with the main activity occurring from February to June and few young animals being born in November and December. The mating takes place between different males and females, there are no fixed pairs or fixed mating territories. Three or five times a year the female gives birth to one to seven, on average 1.5 to 2, young animals after a gestation period of about 42 days. Like all real hares , the newborns have fur and flee the nest.
Systematics
The Iberian hare is assigned to the real hare (genus Lepus ) as an independent species . The first scientific description comes from the German natural scientist Wilhelm Gottlob Rosenhauer from 1856, who described the animals from the area around Granada in Andalusia . The species was partially assigned to the European brown hare ( Lepus europaeus ) or the African kaphase ( L. capensis ), but was established as a separate species due to its morphological and molecular biological characteristics. At the same time, it was found that during the last glacial period there was a mixing of genetic traits of the northern European mountain hare ( L. timidus ), the European brown hare and the Iberian hare and that DNA segments from the genome of the mountain hare can still be detected in the other two species are.
The species currently contains three subspecies with the nominate form :
- Lepus granatensis granatensis in most of the range except in the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula
- Lepus granatensis gallaecius in Galicia and the west of Asturias in northwestern Spain
- Lepus granatensis solisi in Mallorca , although this population was probably introduced by early colonists of the Balearic Islands .
The status of the hares living in Sardinia is unclear, and they are currently classified as L. capensis mediterraneus in the Kaphasen. If these animals were to be assigned to the Iberian hare as a synonym , the name Lepus mediterraneus as an older form would take precedence over Lepus granatensis .
Hazard and protection
The species is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) due to the size of the population and the large area of distribution. The stocks and the development of stocks are considered to be stable; there are no known risks to the existence of the company.
The animals occur regularly to frequently in the southern and central part of Spain, but in the north and especially in Galicia and Asturias as well as Mallorca they are considered very rare and locally also extinct. In Navarra and in the Coto de Doñana National Park in Asturias, the animals have increased significantly and a generally positive trend is also described in northeastern Spain.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j S.C. Schai-Braun, K. Hackländer: Iberian hare, Lepus granatensis. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (editors): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, p. 141, ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
- ↑ a b c Derek Weaver: Lepus granatensis (Iberian hare) in the Animal Diversity Web, 2013, accessed on August 26, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d Lepus granatensis in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.1. Listed by: AT Smith, CH Johnston, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
- ↑ Joseph A. Chapman, John EC Flux (Eds.): Rabbits, Hares and Pikas. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. (PDF; 11.3 MB) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Gland 1990; P. 72 (contained in the entry on L. capensis ). ISBN 2-8317-0019-1 .
- ↑ a b P.C. Alves, N. Ferrand, F. Suchentrunk, DJ Harris: Ancient introgression of Lepus timidus mtDNA into L. granatensis and L. europaeus in the Iberian Peninsula. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27 (1) April 2003; Pp. 70-80. doi : 10.1016 / S1055-7903 (02) 00417-7 , full text ( memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ J. Melo-Ferreira, P. Boursot, F. Suchentrunk, N. Ferrand, PC Alves: Invasion from the cold past: extensive introgression of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) mitochondrial DNA into three other hare species in northern Iberia. Molecular Ecology 14, 2005; Pp. 2459-2464. doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-294X.2005.02599.x , full text
literature
- SC Schai-Braun, K. Hackländer: Iberian hare, Lepus granatensis. In: Don E. Wilson, TE Lacher, Jr., Russell A. Mittermeier (editors): Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Lagomorphs and Rodents 1. (HMW, Volume 6) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2016, p. 141, ISBN 978-84-941892-3-4 .
Web links
- Lepus granatensis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.1. Listed by: AT Smith, CH Johnston, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
- Derek Weaver: Lepus granatensis (Iberian hare) on Animal Diversity Web, 2013, accessed August 26, 2017.
- Illustration and detailed information (in Spanish)