Granada Hare

About the Granada Hare

The Granada hare (Lepus granatensis), also known as the Iberian hare (Spanish: liebre Ibérica), is a species of hare that is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and the island of Mallorca. A small species compared to other European hares, it has long been hunted as an important game species.

Three subspecies of the Granada hare are known: Lepus granatensis granatensis is the most abundant and nominate subspecies, found in Andalusia, Extremadura, Meseta Central, Valencia and the south of Aragon and Catalonia. It is the only subspecies present in Portugal.

Lepus granatensis gallaecius described by Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. in 1907 was a male adult hare collected in the Province of A Coruña. This subspecies with a darker coat occurs in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in Galicia.

Lepus granatensis solisi, also called the Majorcan hare, is native to Mallorca and Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. This subspecies was described by biologists Fernando Palacios Arribas and José Fernández López in 1992, who noted its overall smaller size and differing dental morphology from the nominate subspecies. It is considered either critically endangered by some zoologists or extinct by the... Wikipedia →