Ah ok, do you have some easy sources on that? Otherwise Im affraid I need to deep dive into the wikipedia. “Hey Kids, Papa wont be mentally around for a while :|”
Roughly halfway down, just above taxonomy, is a graphic of the clade. (True) hares are only in the genus Lepus, the rest may be called hares if they are big but that’s not taxonomy, just language.
There also is this helpful picture I found on the mammal page: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/OrthoMaM_v10b_2019_116genera_circular_tree.svg
Rabbits (well, the European rabbits Oryctolagus) are at the top left in blue, hares would be right beside them, as they are more closely related than the next animal group shown here, Pikas (Ochotona). Rabbit, Hares and Pikas form the group Lagomorphs. Deer are in the green category, left center, and thus distantly related.
As far as I know, they are totally diferent species, that coincidentally look alike. The European hares closest relative is the roe deer(?)
But Im not a biologist. Probably someone with real knowledge can say something about it
No real biologist, but no. They are 2 different, but closely related species - certainly closer than deer!
Ah ok, do you have some easy sources on that? Otherwise Im affraid I need to deep dive into the wikipedia. “Hey Kids, Papa wont be mentally around for a while :|”
I recommend a targeted dive into Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leporidae
Roughly halfway down, just above taxonomy, is a graphic of the clade. (True) hares are only in the genus Lepus, the rest may be called hares if they are big but that’s not taxonomy, just language.
There also is this helpful picture I found on the mammal page:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/OrthoMaM_v10b_2019_116genera_circular_tree.svg
Rabbits (well, the European rabbits Oryctolagus) are at the top left in blue, hares would be right beside them, as they are more closely related than the next animal group shown here, Pikas (Ochotona). Rabbit, Hares and Pikas form the group Lagomorphs. Deer are in the green category, left center, and thus distantly related.