Woolly hare
Lepus oiostolus Hodgson, 1840
The woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus) is a species in the family Leporidae, order Lagomorpha. Recorded adults weigh 2.47 kg to 3 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Quick facts about the woolly hare
- Weight
- 2.47 kg – 3 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.06src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src 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 woolly hare live?
Not recorded
What is the woolly hare?
The woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus) (Chinese: 高原兔; pinyin: Gaoyuan tu) is a thick-furred species of hare found in the montane grasslands of western and central China, northern India, and Nepal. It is a medium- to large-sized hare with fur that varies in colour with location, from sandy yellow to light brown. Among the Chinese hares, it has the largest ears. Whitish rings around the eyes and an elongated muzzle are distinctive features of the woolly hare. Being a nocturnal species, the hare will forage for grasses and herbs at night and rest under shelter during the day.
Woolly hares are threatened by habitat destruction and are hunted for their meat and fur. Dense hare populations are reportedly sparsely distributed, and though it has a wide range and is present in some protected areas, it is a generally uncommon species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed it as a least-concern species, though it is considered endangered in India and listed as a protected wild animal in China.
From the Wikipedia article “Woolly hare” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Woolly_hare&oldid=1384818560), 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 woolly hare endangered?
The woolly hare is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the woolly hare classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderLagomorpha
- familyLeporidae
- genusLepus
- SpeciesLepus oiostolus Hodgson, 1840
Synonyms Lepus grahami, Lepus kozlovi, Lepus oiostolus hypsibius, Lepus oiostolus oiostolus, Lepus oiostolus pallipes, Lepus oiostolus przewalskii, Lepus oiostolus qinghaiensis, Lepus oiostolus qusongensis, Lepus pallipes, Lepus sechuenensis
Other names and names in other languages (20)
- Gray-tailed hareEnglish
- Highland hareEnglish
- Wooly hareEnglish
- Кыйыр пачан моренMari
- zajíc vlnitýCzech
- Tibetanischer WollhaseGerman
- Liebre de lanaSpanish
- خرگوش پشمالوPersian
- villakarvajänisFinnish
- チベットノウサギJapanese
- 양털멧토끼Korean
- UllhareNorwegian Bokmål
- Tibetaanse HaasDutch
- zając wełnistyPolish
- Lebre-peludaPortuguese
- Iepure de HimalaiaRomanian
- Курчавый заяцRussian
- ullig hareSwedish
- 高原兔Chinese
- Gaoyuan TuChinese
Relatives of the woolly hare
Other species in the same genus Lepus.

European hare
Lepus europaeus

Mountain hare
Lepus timidus

Arctic hare
Lepus arcticus

Snowshoe hare
Lepus americanus

Cape hare
Lepus capensis

Black-tailed jackrabbit
Lepus californicus
CompareWoolly hare vs European hareWoolly hare vs Mountain hareWoolly hare vs Arctic hareWoolly hare vs Snowshoe hare
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the woolly hare?
An adult woolly hare weighs 2.47 kg – 3 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the woolly hare endangered?
The woolly hare is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the woolly hare?
The woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus) 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.
- 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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/woolly-hare
“Woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/woolly-hare.
@misc{woolly_hare_2026,
title = {Woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/woolly-hare},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}