Mountain hare

Gestation lasts 50 days, litters average 3.2 young, there are 2.1 litters per year, and sexual maturity comes at 266 days. Its lifespan is given as 14.6 years and up to 18 years, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.

Weight

3.05 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

14.6 years – 18 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

grasslandsrc for Habitat

Gestation

50.1 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

3.16src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

8.74 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

2.1src 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

Not recorded

The mountain 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.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderLagomorpha
5. familyLeporidae
6. genusLepus
7. SpeciesLepus timidus Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Lepus gichiganus robustus, Lepus lutescens, Lepus moderni, Lepus othus tschuktschorum, Lepus saghalienis, Lepus timidus altaicus, Lepus timidus anabarensis, Lepus timidus tschuktschorum, Lepus tschukschorum

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

European hare

Lepus europaeus

Leporidae

LC, Least Concern

Arctic hare

Lepus arcticus

Leporidae

LC, Least Concern

Snowshoe hare

Lepus americanus

Leporidae

LC, Least Concern

Cape hare

Lepus capensis

Leporidae

LC, Least Concern

Black-tailed jackrabbit

Lepus californicus

Leporidae

G

Granada hare

Lepus granatensis

LeporidaeNo free photo yet

CompareMountain hare vs European hareMountain hare vs Arctic hareMountain hare vs Snowshoe hareMountain hare vs Cape hare

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{mountain_hare_2026,
  title = {Mountain hare (Lepus timidus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-hare},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}