Latin Name: Lepus timidus Gaelic Name: Geàrr, Maigheach bhàn.
Meaning: Hare, White hare. Statistics: Length 50-60cm, weight 2.5-4kg.
Physical Description: Smaller than the brown hare, with a more rounded
shape, and without a black upper surface on the tail. Mountain hares also have
shorter ears and legs than the brown hare. In summer, they have a grey/black coat,
and in winter they are partly or completely white. Mountain hares moult twice
a year - in late autumn, and again in the spring when they lose their winter coat.
Habitat: Generally associated with heather moors that are managed by landowners
for red grouse. They also inhabit dry, rocky hilltops and occasionally woodland
up to the snowline. They live at altitudes of up to 1300 metres in the Alps.
Diet: Mountain hares graze on heather, bilberry, twigs of gorse, juniper,
grasses, herbs and occasionally farm crops.
Latin Name: Lepus timidus
