• Question: How many types of hares are there in the world?

    Asked by to Thon on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anthony Caravaggi

      Anthony Caravaggi answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hi Amelia. As is the case with other animals, the number of hare species (types) has changed over time as some get grouped with others, while other groups get split apart. For example, one of the hares I’m working on, the Irish hare, was once considered a single species. Then it was decided that the Irish hare is actually a kind of mountain hare, and it was lumped in with all the other mountain hares. It might go back to being its own species in the future though, thanks do DNA work and more information on how it lives. This kind of situation isn’t unusual in biology, though it can make things quite confusing from time-to-time.

      I’ve waffled a little bit there, but to answer your question: there are currently 32 different types of hare in the world.

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