Manchurian hare
| Manchurian hare | |
|---|---|
| Lepus mandshuricus in Khasansky District, Russia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Lagomorpha |
| Family: | Leporidae |
| Genus: | Lepus |
| Species: | L. mandshuricus
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| Binomial name | |
| Lepus mandshuricus Radde, 1861
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| Manchurian hare range | |
| Synonyms | |
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| Manchurian hare | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 东北兔 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 東北兔 | ||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul | 만주토끼 | ||||||||
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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".