IS A HARE A CERTAIN KIND OF RABBIT?

    Hares are often mistaken for rabbits, but even though they look alike there are differences. Rabbits are generally smaller than hares, and their ears are not quite so long. Baby hares are born with their eyes wide open and a full coat of fur. Rabbits, however, are blind at birth and have no hair at all. Another difference is that rabbits dig underground burrows where they live and produce their young. Hares simply make a nest in small, well-hidden ground hollows.

    Hares are active during the dark nighttime hours, when they roam about looking for a juicy plant to nibble on. They are ready to mate by the time they are 6 months old and may have two or three litters a year. Each litter may produce from two to five young that are ready to hop around on the day they are born. Jack rabbits and the snowshoe rabbit are hares, but the cottontail rabbit is really a rabbit--even though he doesn't dig a burrow like other rabbits.