Abyssinian hare

The Abyssinian hare (Lepus habessinicus) is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. It is almost entirely restricted to the nations of the Horn of Africa, though it extends marginally into eastern Sudan and may also occur in far northern Kenya.

Abyssinian hare
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Lagomorpha
Family:	Leporidae
Genus:	Lepus
Species:	L. habessinicus
Binomial name
Lepus habessinicus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833[2]
Abyssinian Hare range
Synonyms[3]
List Lepus abyssinicus Lefebvre, 1850 Lepus berberanus von Heuglin, 1861 Lepus somalensis von Heuglin, 1861 Lepus tigrensis Blanford, 1869 Lepus tigriensis von Heuglin, 1877 Lepus somaliensis Lydekker, 1908 Lepus cordeauxi Drake-Brockman, 1911 Lepus crispii Drake-Brockman, 1911

Taxonomy and phylogeny

The Abyssinian hare was first described by Wilhelm Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1833. Ehrenberg noted in his account that the hare had been documented many years prior by Hiob Ludolf in his work Historia Aethiopica ('History of Ethiopia'), where it was called tzandjal in Amharic. Ehrenberg also noted the prior work of Henry Salt, who had written about the hare and knew it to be called muntile in the Tigre language, meaning "small hare".^[4]

It has been suggested that the Abyssinian hare should be considered as a subspecies of the Cape hare (L. capensis), which was the case for several years. As of 2019, it is considered a separate species that is sympatric with (occupies some of the same regions as) the cape hare.^[1] Some authors support the Abyssinian hare's species status by noting that populations in northern Somalia can be distinguished from the Cape hare by their lack of an interparietal bone, while other authors support it by pointing to differences in mitochondrial DNA sequences between L. habessinicus and L. capensis.^[5] The Abyssinian hare's large ears have also been used as a distinguishing point between it and the Cape hare.^[2] The Abyssinian hare has no recognized subspecies.^[5]

The closest relative to the Abyssinian hare is the Ethiopian highland hare (L. starcki),^[5] according to a 2017 study of Ethiopian hare DNA.^[6] In 2024, a group led by Leandro Iraçabal Nunes found the Abyssinian hare to be closely related to the European hare (L. europaeus), but excluded the Ethiopian highland hare from their results.^[7] Like other hares, the Abyssinian hare has a diploid chromosome number of 48.^[2]

Description

1843 illustration of the Abyssinian hare by French artist Jean-Baptiste Meunier

The Abyssinian hare is a small hare with long, wide ears.^[5] Its adult head-and-body length ranges between 40 and 55 cm (16 and 22 in). The fur is soft and dense, and varies in overall colour from sandy brown to grey depending on geographic location, with more grey fur seen in Ethiopia and sandy fur appearing in Eritrea. The hare's upper parts are a grizzled silvery grey, with some black on the shoulder, back and rump. The hairs on the back are about 2 cm (0.8 in) long and have greyish-white shafts, then a black band topped by a white or pale buff band, and often a black tip. The flanks are paler, the individual hairs having white shafts. The underparts are white, the fur being less dense than on the back. A thin cinnamon band separates the flanks from the underparts. The chin is whitish, and some individuals have whitish eyerings. The ears are very large, silvery-brown externally and whitish-buff inside. There is a black margin round the tips of the ears and a white fringe round the lower parts of the margin. The tail is 8.5 cm (3.3 in) long, black above and white below.^[2]

Distribution and habitat

The Abyssinian hare is endemic to the Horn of Africa, being present in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. Some records point to the species also occurring in the extreme north of Kenya.^[2] It occurs in savannah, grassland and steppe, as well as desert and semi-arid conditions where some scrubby vegetation is present to provide cover. It occurs to altitudes of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft), and even higher in Ethiopia.^[1] On the northeastern plateaus of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the hare may be found at elevations up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). In Djibouti, sightings are very common.^[2]