📸 PhotoPhoto: 솔바람 · CC BY 2.0 kr · Wikimedia Commons Source
Korean Hare
Lepus coreanus (Korean Hare · チョウセンウサギ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its weight of about 2.6 kg is slightly lighter than a 3 kg bag of rice (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum body length of 54 cm is nearly twice the long side of an A4 sheet of paper (29.7 cm) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Korean Hare is a wild hare living across the Korean Peninsula and in southern Jilin Province, China.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its long ears and thickly furred feet allow it to run fast, and its large eyes help it see well even at twilight. Its coat is brown or grayish-brown with a paler belly.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
A herbivore that eats grasses, shrub leaves, roots, flowers, and bark, it has a gestation period of about 42 days and produces 6–8 young per litter, 3–5 times a year, though heavy predation gives it an average wild lifespan of about 1 year.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
Listed as 'Met-tokki' (Korean name) and marked as endemic to Korea in the National List of Species of Korea (National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR)), it lives throughout the Korean Peninsula.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2019) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41279/161750768
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1001088
- • iucnredlist.org — 161750768
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053432 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053432
- • wikidata.org — Q1154116
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Lepus coreanus.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Lepus coreanus
- • species.nibr.go.kr — general-search
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Margot Michaud · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Lepus saxatilis)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.