South African jumping hare
| South African jumping hare | ||||||||||||
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Spring hare ( Pedetes capensis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pedetes capensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Forster , 1778) |
The South African jumping hare ( Pedetes capensis ) is a rodent of South and East African semi-deserts and dry savannas and one of the two species of jumping hares (Pedetidae). Outwardly it resembles a hare , but in contrast to this, it is a real rodent. Contrary to what the name suggests, the jumping hares are not directly related to the hare.
features
Even more than a hare, the jumping hare resembles a very small version of a kangaroo . It has long, strong hind legs and short front legs. Like a kangaroo, it jumps upright on its hind legs without touching the ground with its front legs. He can do sets of two to three meters in length.
The jumping hare has a head-torso length of 40 centimeters, and there is also a bushy tail that is about as long. The weight of the animal is three to four kilograms. The upper side is colored beige, sandy or reddish brown depending on the region, the underside is whitish. The back half of the tail is black.
The head of the animal is short and rests on a muscular neck. The greatly enlarged ears can reach a length of eight centimeters. The eyes are big and black. Jumping hares have five claws on their front legs and four claws on their hind legs. The front claws are sharp and curved and suitable for digging. The claws of the hind legs are more blunt and resemble small hooves .
Way of life
The spring hare builds its courses in arid habitats. A couple lives together in the tunnels, which are about 20 centimeters in diameter. The entire gait system of a pair of jumping hares has an average length of 42 meters and lies about 80 centimeters below the surface of the earth. There are an average of 9.3 entrances per building, which are protected by trees or bushes whenever possible.
Spring hares sleep in their burrows during the day and become active at night . They then look for grasses, herbs and roots near their burrows. Above all, they dig tubers and roots out of the ground. Spring hares also eat insects in times of need. If possible, they always stay close to an entrance, so that if an enemy appears they can escape into the burrow with just a few leaps. Most often, a spring hare stays at a distance of 25 to 250 meters from its burrow. If a period of drought makes food scarce, it can also travel up to 40 kilometers in one night to find fertile regions.
Young animals can be born at any time of the year. Usually a single baby is born, twin births occur in less than one percent of all cases. A female can litter four times a year. The young are suckled for 50 days and then leave the den for the first time. The lifespan in the wild is rarely more than seven years. However, jumping hares lived to be up to 19 years old in captivity.
Systematics
The position of the jumping hares in the rodent system has long been a mystery. They were initially viewed as particularly large and deviant jerboa . Later they put zoologists in changing relatives, among other things in the vicinity of the porcupines . Today, thanks to molecular genetic analyzes, it is known that the jumping hares are the sister group of the thorntail squirrels , although outwardly there is absolutely no similarity. Both are united in a common taxon, thorntail squirrel relatives (Anomaluromorpha), whose relationships to other rodents remain largely a mystery.
Fossil history
The spring hare is the last representative of what was once a much more species-rich family circle. The earliest fossils date from the Miocene and can be assigned to the extinct genera Parapedetes , Megapedetes and Diatomys . Since the Pliocene only the genus Pedetes is known. Spring hares fossils have been discovered all over Africa and parts of Asia ( Israel , Saudi Arabia , Turkey ).
People and jumping hares
Occasionally spring hares penetrate grain fields in search of food. However, they do not occur as pests to any significant extent. Although the range is very fragmented, the populations are stable. The species is no longer considered endangered and was removed from the Red List by the IUCN in 2004 .
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Bernhard Grzimek : Grzimeks animal life. Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom. Volume 11: Mammals. Part 2. Unchanged reprint of the dtv edition 1979/80. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-1603-1 .
- Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell: Classification of Mammals. Revised Edition. Above the species level. Columbia University Press, New York NY 2000, ISBN 0-231-11013-8 .
Web links
- Pedetes capensis in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2008. Posted by: T. M. M. Butynski, Y. De Jong, 2008. Accessed on 13 May, 2009.