Bunny vs Hare
It would be interesting to understand the actual difference between bunny and hare, as it could be always confusing for a casual person. Bunnies are always thought to be actual animals by the young generation but the other way around by the elders, in case of the Easter bunny. However, in the real world the rabbits are referred as the bunnies in the common tongue. Therefore, this article intends to discuss the significant differences of hares from the commonly referred bunnies or rabbits. The main distinctions of rabbits from jackrabbits appropriately apply to the differences between bunny and hare, as well.
Bunny
Bunny is the colloquial term for rabbits, and bunnies are small size mammals of the Order: Lagomorpha and Family: Leparidae. There are about 25 species of bunnies described under eight genera. Their males and females are referred as buck and doe respectively. The inhabited ecosystems of bunnies differ across species, but the grasslands, woodlands, deserts, forests, and wetlands have been their preferred wild habitats. In all these ecosystems, rabbits manage underground burrows or holes as their homes. They have characteristically long ears to hear well, and powerful hind limbs to hop fast in the presence of a predator. Bunnies have a unique body shape that is characteristically ovular shaped as an egg. As being small mammals, they do not exceed their bodyweight beyond two kilograms. The coat of fur is long and soft with brown, white, grey, ash or any combination of those colours. Rabbits’ eye colour could range within pink, red, and brown according to the species. Additionally, selected gene mutations in domestic breeds have proven their ability to change their eye colours. Bunnies have a short and puffed tail, which is important to notice, as well. They could reproduce very rapidly, and the newborn rabbits could be either kit or kitten according to the gender. The other important thing to notice about hares is that their kits or kittens are blind and hairless. Bunnies are easy to keep in captive conditions, and they are friendly with their owners.
Hare
Hare, aka jackrabbits, are members of the Genus: Lepus of the Family: Leporidae, but there are 32 different species of hares. All these species are wild and not domesticated, as they do not get along with humans due to exceptional shyness or they are so afraid of humans. These wild creatures are large and can grow up to two feet height with a weight ranging around 4 – 5 kilograms. Most of the hares have coarse, dense, and short coat of fur. The colour of the fur coat is typically greyish-brown or black. They have black tips on their ears and their eyes could be either dark brown or black in colour. Usually, hares do have large and long ears, so that they can hear from a long distance about the presence of predators. Hares can stand straight up by only using their hind limbs, which are long and slender but powerful. They make their homes or nests on the ground, but those are not underground chambers. Leveret is the referred common name for their newborns, and they have open eyes and hairy bodies. Since they are shy and afraid of humans, people have managed a rabbit breed to resemble hares through selective breeding, and named the breed as Belgian hare.
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What is the difference between Bunny and Hare? • Bunnies have both domesticated and wild species, whereas hares are always wild. • Hares are larger and taller compared to bunnies. • The ears of hares are longer than in bunnies. • Bunnies are social and like to stay in family units. However, hares are solitary most of the time except during mating. • Bunnies have long-soft fur, but hares have coarse and short coat of fur. • Bunnies make their nests underground, while hares prefer their nests above the ground. • Bunny kits and kittens are blind and hairless, whereas leverets of hares are open-eyed and hairy. Additionally, bunny kits and kittens are born incomplete and helpless, while leverets of hares are born complete.
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