CreatureData

Desert hare

Lepus tibetanus Waterhouse, 1841

LCLeast Concernmammals

The desert hare (Lepus tibetanus) is a species in the family Leporidae, order Lagomorpha. Recorded adults weigh about 2.08 kg and live up to 4.66 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Desert hare (Lepus tibetanus)
Photo: Don't just "click" pictures; Shoot Stories! from New Delhi, India · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the desert hare

Weight
2.08 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
4.66 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
8.9 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
grasslandsrc for Habitat
Gestation
43.2 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
2.76src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
7.48 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
3.14src for Litters or clutches a year
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the desert hare live?

Not recorded

What is the desert hare?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The desert hare (Lepus tibetanus) is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Northwest China, and the western Indian subcontinent. It is a slender, sandy brown hare with black-tipped, tufted ears. It is an herbivore that feeds on roots, seeds, foliage, stems, berries, and the occasional cactus. It inhabits grassland, scrub areas of desert and semi-desert, and steppe habitats. The desert hare is most active during dusk, otherwise resting in a shallow depression or the burrow of another animal. Females produce 3 to 10 young in each litter, of which they may have up to three annually.

It is closely related to the Yarkand hare, with which it interbreeds and forms a hybrid species in regions near the Pamir Mountains. There has been much confusion regarding the taxonomy of the desert hare from the 1930s onwards due to the species complex present in the Cape hare species. China and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed the desert hare as a least-concern species due to its wide distribution and a lack of evidence that its population is declining. Potential threats include human population expansion and hunting for food.

From the Wikipedia article “Desert hare” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Desert_hare&oldid=1346435349), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the desert hare endangered?

The desert hare is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the desert hare classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderLagomorpha
  5. familyLeporidae
  6. genusLepus
  7. SpeciesLepus tibetanus Waterhouse, 1841

Synonyms Lepus craspedotis, Lepus pamirensis, Lepus tibetanus craspedotis, Lepus tibetanus pamirensis, Lepus tibetanus stoliczkanus, Lepus tibetanus tibetanus

Other names and names in other languages (15)
  • Desert hare.English
  • Ошма моренMari
  • WüstenhaseGerman
  • Λαγός της ερήμουGreek
  • Liebre del desiertoSpanish
  • Lièvre du désertFrench
  • チベットノウサギJapanese
  • 사막멧토끼Korean
  • 티베트멧토끼Korean
  • ØrkenhareNorwegian Bokmål
  • zając tybetańskiPolish
  • Lebre-do-desertoPortuguese
  • Заяц-песчаникRussian
  • ökenhareSwedish
  • Zang TuChinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the desert hare

Other species in the same genus Lepus.

LC, Least Concern
Cape hare (Lepus capensis)

Cape hare

Lepus capensis

Leporidae

CompareDesert hare vs European hareDesert hare vs Mountain hareDesert hare vs Arctic hareDesert hare vs Snowshoe hare

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the desert hare?

An adult desert hare weighs 2.08 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the desert hare endangered?

The desert hare is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the desert hare live?

The desert hare has a recorded lifespan of 4.66 years.

How long is the desert hare pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 43.2 days.

What kind of animal is the desert hare?

The desert hare (Lepus tibetanus) belongs to the family Leporidae in the order Lagomorpha.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Desert hare (Lepus tibetanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/desert-hare

MLA

“Desert hare (Lepus tibetanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/desert-hare.

BibTeX
@misc{desert_hare_2026,
  title = {Desert hare (Lepus tibetanus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/desert-hare},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}