What Is a Baby Hare Called? Leverets and How They Grow Up

Where does the word leveret come from?

The word leveret comes from Old French and goes back to the Latin word lepus, meaning hare, which is also the scientific name of the hare genus. It has been used in English for more than 500 years. Strictly, a leveret is a hare in its first year of life.

Other hare words are simpler. Adult males are bucks or jacks, and adult females are does or jills. A group of hares has several old collective names, but none is in everyday use. You can find many more of these terms in our list of baby animal names.

How are leverets born?

In the European hare, pregnancy lasts about six weeks, usually around 41–42 days. The mother does not dig a burrow or build a lined nest. She gives birth in a form, a shallow scrape in grass, crops or soil, often in an open field.

A litter usually has two to four leverets, although it can range from one to five or more. Each newborn weighs around 100–130 g (3.5–4.6 oz). They are precocial, a word biologists use for young that are well developed at birth. Leverets are covered in fur, can see and hear, and can move about within hours. This suits a life above ground, where there is no burrow to protect helpless babies.

How do mother hares look after leverets?

Hare mothers are not neglectful, even though they seem to leave their young alone. Staying away is the leverets’ main protection. A mother hare carries scent that could lead predators to her young, so she keeps her visits short.

Within a few days of birth, the leverets spread out from the birthplace and lie hidden in separate spots nearby, each tucked into grass or a small hollow. About once a day, shortly after sunset, they gather at the place where they were born. The mother arrives, nurses them for only a few minutes, and then leaves again, often with a long leap so that she leaves no direct scent trail. The leverets then scatter back to their hiding places.

Hare milk is very rich, which is why a single short feed each day is enough. Through the day, leverets rely on camouflage and stillness. When a predator or person comes near, they freeze, ears pressed flat against their backs.

How fast do leverets grow?

Leverets grow quickly. They start nibbling plants at around two weeks old and are usually weaned at about four weeks. By then they look like small versions of their parents and can run well. Within a few months they are close to adult size, and they can breed in the following year.

Life is risky for young hares. Many leverets are taken by red foxes, birds of prey, crows and other predators, and others die in cold, wet weather or are killed by farm machinery during mowing and harvesting. In many areas only a minority of leverets survive to adulthood, which is why a female needs several litters each year.

Leverets vs baby rabbits

Leverets and baby rabbits are often confused, but they start life very differently.

Interestingly, both mothers nurse only once a day, but a rabbit’s babies are sealed in a nest chamber while a hare’s babies lie hidden in the open. You can read more about these and other differences in rabbit vs hare.

What to do if you find a leveret

Every spring and summer, people find leverets alone in fields, gardens or on paths and assume they have been abandoned. In almost all cases they have not. A healthy leveret sitting quietly on its own is doing exactly what it should, waiting for its mother to return at dusk.

The best thing to do is to leave it where it is, keep pets away and walk on quietly. Picking it up, moving it or taking it home greatly reduces its chances of survival, because the mother will look for it in the place she left it. Only a leveret that is clearly injured or in immediate danger needs help, and in that case the right step is to contact a local wildlife rescue center for advice.