Polar hares are the most common animals in the Udmurt Republic. This species inhabits the countries of Northern Eurasia: Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Polar hares live in forests, sparse meadows and river valleys. Sometimes they can be found close to agricultural lands: hares feed on vegetable and cereal fields. Hares have lots of folk names: skoromcha, vitoropen’, ushkan, kriven’, wall-eyed, biley and others.
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Sergey Evseev
Polar hare
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Hares are large animals: body length of adult specimens can reach 65 centimeters while its weight may be over 5 kilograms. There are also smaller species, which inhabit the Far East regions. Like other hares, polar hares become active during dusk and nighttime. They spend daytime in special locations called ‘animal beds’. A polar hare makes it himself by stamping the grass flat in places secure from people and predators. If not disturbed it can come back to the same ‘bed’ for several times. However, more often animals make new ‘beds’ every day. In winter, polar hares dig holes in the snow. Depth of such dwellings may reach up to 1 meter. Hares stay there all day and leave there hiding places in case of danger.
Polar hare. Source: wikipedia.org
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During warm seasons, hares eat green plant components. In autumn, they start consuming bush twigs and in winter, they eat tree bark, as well as cobnut, oak and maple shoots. Because of the plant-based ration hares like other herbivorous animals lack mineral salts. In order to restore their nutrient balance they sometimes chew bones of dead animals.
Hares are very fecund beasts. They breed two-three times a year. In one litter, there are usually two to five young hares. When born they are able to see and have thick fluff over their body. On their first day, young hares can already move around unaided. The doe hare has to feed her brood only once a day because her milk is very nutritive – 15% of fat. After 10 days, young hares start adding grass into their ration and when they become 2 weeks old, leave their parents.
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Averagely polar hares do not grow older than 5-8 years. If an animal is over 10 years old, it is considered to be a long-liver. Males usually live less than females.
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Kuzebai Gerd National Museum of the Republic of Udmurtia
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Polar hare
Creation period
2007
Technique
Taxidermy
Collection
Exhibition
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