REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS OF TWO HAPLOTYPES OF THE

• Main Authors: European Hare (lepus Europaeus Pallas, Charlotte Ragagli, Gisella Paci, Cecilia Ambrogi, Marco Bagliacca
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Key words; Lepus europaeus; brown hare; mountain origin; rearing; reproductive perform; Hare Mountain; mountain hare
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.669.8608; http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/article/download/4411/4347/

ABSTRACT- Four hundred and two pairs of hares belonging to the mountain and brown haplotypes of the European hare Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 were raised in a farm lo-cated in central Italy over 4 years (from 2003 to 2006). The birth date, total number of young born, and number of surviving and weaned leverets were recorded for each pair. The start of reproduction, birth-interval, length of the repro-ductive season, number of birth per pair per year, number of leverets per pair, number of weaned leverets per pair and number of weaned leverets per birth were analysed in relation to the different haplotypes and years; the incidence of superfetation and pseudogestation was also considered. Results showed that the brown hare produced young at the beginning of February, whilst the mountain hare started reproduction significantly later. Brown hares showed a longer re-productive period than mountain hares (192 days vs 156 days) and a higher productivity. The most frequent gestation length was 37-41 days. The distribution of delivery intervals did not differ between the two haplotypes.