A hare, like a rabbit, is a rodent, with large front chewing teeth. A hare less than one year old is called a leveret.

Hares are very fast-moving animals and can run at over sixty kilometres an hour. They mostly live alone.

Hares are normally shy, except when the mating season arrives in spring. At this time hares can be seen "boxing".

Hares have several differences to rabbits. They have much longer ears and legs. They do not have their young below ground in a burrow, but in a shallow depression. Young hares are born fully furred and with their eyes open, so they are able to fend for themselves soon after birth. Rabbits have young that are born blind and hairless and spend most of their lives living underground in burrows, except coming out at night to graze. Hares live in nests above the ground. Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are kept as house pets.

The mountain hare lives high on a mountain among heather and grass. It hides away in a shallow burrow or in a rocky crevice. It avoids large areas of open ground because there are no places where it can hide.

The mountain hare eats the vegetation that grows on the mountain side. The hare crouches if it senses a predator and only rushes away when a predator comes too close. It has long back legs which can make it move quickly away from danger.

In summer its brown coat helps it to blend in with the rocky area in which it lives. In winter the hare's coat becomes white with black tips to its ears. This helps it to blend in with the snowy conditions, but it also helps the hare to keep warm. Less heat escapes through a white surface than any other colour.

In the spring and autumn, when the hare is changing its coat, the mixture of brown and white fur makes the hare look blue and it is sometimes known as the blue hare.