A harey situation

[smoo]

I'm confused about the hares in Finland and all of the Finns I ask about it seem evasive, as if it's a state secret or something...

My understanding is that there are two species of hares in Finland (in addition to rabbits of course), and they are the same ones we have in the UK, which we call the brown hare (Lepus europeaus) and the grey hare (Lepus timidus, blue hare, mountain hare). In Britain the mountain hare is only found in mountains, and changes from brown to nearly white in the winter, while the brown hare is brown all year round. In summer you are supposed to be able to tell them apart by the fact that the mountain hare has a black stripe on top of its tail. Now, I see a lot of hares here, and they all seem to be brown in the summer and white in the winter, but they all also seem to have this black stripe on the tail. So is it the case that "brown" hares turn white in winter here (unlike in the UK), or that "mountain" hares have the black stripe? (also unlike in the UK). I am guessing the former, as they all look quite big and fairly long-eared (which is more brown hare-like) and I'm guessing that the black stripe is more definitive than the coat-changing thing, which seems more likely to be a local population attribute to do with the climate.

[Pursuivant]

well I don't know. a rabbit is a rabbit. theres a forest-rabbit that changes the color to full white.. I mean thats white is white is white you can't see it in snow, and then theres the "brownie" which comes a bit grey like a squirrel but is more slush-colored. brownies are far more common here in the south. you're right theres regional variations through the populations as the Irish hare doesn't change to white even its a lupus timidus... the only way you can tell really is the forest-rabbit has webbed feet so it can keep on top of snow. so yeah, they're brownies... I've seen a forest-rabbit a couple times only and you know it when you see one.

[Flossy1978]

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mountain-Hare

I found that link. It explains the hares.

I live between Klaukkala and Nurmijärvi and in our part of the woods there are plenty of hares. They all look the same to me LOL. They are always hopping in front of my car as I drive up the street in the early hours of the morning. They are freaking huge!!! I have four indoor domesticated rabbits and these wild hare are huge compared to them.

Nowadays you have to watch out if you are in Helsinki, you probably see more domesticated rabbits that have been tossed out by owners than wild hare LOL.

Read the link above, it gives good information.

[smoo]

I think what is confusing when you are trying to talk about this with Finns (in English at least), is that "Rabbit" is sometimes used here to mean both rabbits and hares, while in britain no-one would call a hare a rabbit, they are different things. But in fact, the Lepidus timidus (mountain hare) does look a little more rabbit-like than the brown (European) hare. In the UK most people would only see rabbits and European hares, and the latter are much bigger and more long-legged, so they are easy to tell apart. I think we'll have to stick to Latin or it's going to get too confusing! "Rabbit" in the U.K. = Oryctolagus cuniculus.

The hares I see in Helsinki are also really huge, certainly very un-rabbit like.

[smoo]

I'm now thinking that the big hares I am seeing here in H are Lepidus europeaus, = "brownies", and that they turn "slush-coloured" here.

It's still really cool to see so many of them about, you don't see them so often in Britain and they are something special, very important in Celtic mythology etc.

[Pursuivant]

well, lets say we call something that jumps around and has long ears a rabbit = jänis... rabbit-animals = jäniseläimet class in the biology book.

basically the confusion stems from the fact as those rabbit-looking ones that burrow into the ground are not naturally found here (except these days in Helsinki area), so they are the odd ones out.

so what you call a hare is for us a rabbit because it jumps around and has long ears as is in the description of a rabbit. and whats a grey hare is a "forest rabbit"= metsäjänis and a brownie = rusakko, and those small ones that burrow into the ground - those have a special name = kani or kaniini

so yes, there is no rabbits in Finland, only jackrabbits, but nobody informed the natives of that when dictionaries were written

[smoo]

Ok, that's all fitting into place.

I wonder when that map was made - rabbits aren't native to Australia or New Zealand either, but they have coloured in the map for these areas but not for southern Finland. Are the rabbity rabbits quite recent introductions here?

[rinso]

Are the rabbity rabbits quite recent introductions here?

Yes, they are mostly escaped or set free pets. Rabbits normally do not survive the Finnish winters outdoors, so it is only a summer population. But the last few years have been very mild so they survived and multiplied.
After the next real winter they probably will be exterminated.

[Pursuivant]

they've apparently found a niche for themselves, the hares are more shy of the big city, but the bunnies go in for munchies