Manchurian Hare

The Manchurian hare (Lepus mandshuricus) is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae found in northeastern China and Russia, the Amur River basin, and possibly the mountains of northern North Korea. In contrast to other hares, it lives in forests and takes to closed shelters to rest and escape predators. It is similar in appearance to and was once considered a subspecies of the Japanese hare, but its closest genetic relatives are the Korean and Cape hares. The species is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation. In regions where forest is cleared away, the Manchurian hare is faced with competition from the Tolai hare. It occurs across several protected areas, and in some places has a very high population density. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern". == Taxonomy and etymology == The Manchurian hare, scientific name Lepus mandshuricus, was first described by Gustav Radde in 1861, with a type locality of the Bureya Mountains in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. The species name mandshuricus is Latin, meaning "of Manchuria". Radde noted that the species could possibly represent the adult form of the Japanese hare (L. brachyurus), and…