page_title: Hare
section_title: Three hares
hierarchical_section_title: Hare / Folklore and mythology / Three hares
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Paderborn, Deutschland: Dreihasenfenster im Innenhof des Kreuzgangs im Paderborner Dom. English: Paderborn, Germany: Dreihasenfenster (“Window of Three Hares”) in the cloister's inner courtyard of Paderborn Cathedral.
context_page_description: Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares are classified in the same family as rabbits. They are similar in size and form to rabbits and have similar herbivorous diets, but generally have longer ears and live solitarily or in pairs. Also unlike rabbits, their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth rather than emerging blind and helpless. Most are fast runners. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia and North America.
  Five leporid species with "hare" in their common names are not considered true hares: the hispid hare, and four species known as red rock hares. Conversely, jackrabbits are hares, rather than rabbits.
  A hare less than one year old is called a leveret. A group of hares is called a "drove".
context_section_description: A study in 2004 followed the history and migration of a symbolic image of three hares with conjoined ears. In this image, three hares are seen chasing each other in a circle with their heads near its centre. While each of the animals appears to have two ears, only three ears are depicted. The ears form a triangle at the centre of the circle and each is shared by two of the hares. The image has been traced from Christian churches in the English county of Devon right back along the Silk Road to China, via western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Before its appearance in China, it was possibly first depicted in the Middle East before being reimported centuries later. Its use is associated with Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist sites stretching back to about 600 CE.
caption: Dreihasenfenster (Window of Three Hares) in Paderborn Cathedral
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