By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment Correspondent
3 April 2015
From the sectionScience & Environment
Biologists are calling on the public to report sightings of rabbits and hares as part of a conservation effort.
The animals are easier to spot in spring when vegetation is low and the breeding season is under way.
Hares may be declining in parts of the UK, while rabbits have been hit by myxomatosis and other viral diseases, says the Mammal Society.
People are being asked to send in photographs of rabbits and hares to help map the UK population.
Dr Fiona Mathews, senior lecturer in mammalian biology and chair of the Mammal Society, said: "We have very poor information on rabbits and hares - and it's important to know if numbers are going up or down.
"They are part of the ecosystem and lots of other animals depend on them, either through grazing of their habitat or as a food source for foxes or birds of prey."
Mammal atlas
She said some parts of the UK had very low populations of rabbits and hares, particularly where there had been disease outbreaks. However, in other regions they have become so abundant they have become agricultural pests.
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