Diet of the Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus) in a semi-natural landscape of southern Italy

Abstract

The food habits of the endangered Italian hare have not received adequate attention from researchers. In this study, the diet composition of this species and its sea- sonal variation were assessed by analysing faecal pellets in a semi-natural landscape in the south of Italy. The results showed that hares feed on 62 species of plants during the year, with a conspicuous presence of herbaceous ones (e.g., Trifolium pratense , Brachypodium sylvaticum , Festuca arun- dinacea ) as these occurred at high frequencies in most of the faecal samples. In spring, diet composition was charac- terised by a high percentage of Graminaceae ( > 37%). In the other seasons, hares also included fruits (e.g., Prunus spi- nosa , Pyrus piraster , Malus sylvestris ), which, in autumn, accounted for > 27%. There were significant differences among seasons (p 70%) in the diets during the other seasons with a more pronounced similarity between summer and autumn (S o rensen, C s = 0.80; Morisita-Horn, C MH = 0.73).