Tolai Hare Lepus tolai ranges from steppes east of the Caspian Sea to northern Xinjiang, Northeast China, and central China. This and all photos on this page from Dongzhai Nature Reserve (31.949210, 114.266062), Henan, China, elev. 120 m (380 ft.), May. (Craig Brelsford)Dorsal pelage of Tolai Hare varies among ‘sandy yellow, pale brown, dusty yellow, or sandy gray, interspersed with dark brown and laurel-red stripes’ (Smith). The ears are tipped black. (Craig Brelsford)Tolai Hare is mainly nocturnal but occasionally feeds in daylight. It lives on grass, seeds, bulbs, shoots, and roots. (Craig Brelsford)Tolai Hare ‘[o]ccupies grasslands and forest meadows (never true forests); prefers tall grass or shrubby areas for the cover they provide’ (Smith). In Northeast China Tolai Hare replaces Manchurian HareL. mandshuricus in areas cleared of forest. (Craig Brelsford)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lynx Nature Books (2023). All the Mammals of the World. Lynx Nature Books, Barcelona, Spain.
Smith, Andrew T. (2013). Order Lagomorpha in Smith, Andrew T. & Yan Xie, eds. Mammals of China. Tolai Hare, pp. 182–3. Princeton University Press.
