Tolai hare was seen in the mountains on the territory of the Kopetdag reserve, a correspondent report on the website of the State Publishing Service of Turkmenistan.
Hares live here not only in tugai, near rivers, lakes and in the Karakum Desert, but also in the middle belt of mountains. Scientists note tolai in the mountains up to an altitude of 2.5 thousand meters above sea level, and the fact that it is larger than sandy one.
Ecologist Kadyr Annakuliev witnessed an episode that he could not explain. While bypassing the mountain and plain pastures around the villages of Artyk, Kurengala, Mehinli of the Kaahki etrap of the Ahal velayat, he watched through binoculars how near the Govshut station on the top of the hill at dawn five hares and three cubs of a small fox-corsac were playing catch-up: the rabbits hid among the thickets, and the foxes “were searching” them. This continued until an adult hare appeared and chased away the cubs - they scattered in different directions, tails between their legs. Then tolai gathered his hares, they jumped in formation towards the thickets and soon disappeared into the bushes.
There were cases when a hare, tired of the chase, flew into the expeditionary bivouac of biologists in the desert and stayed there until the danger passed, rightly calculating that people were not as dangerous to him as a wolf or a fox.
The number of tolai is very unstable, subject to sharp fluctuations. The main natural cause of periodic extinctions of tolai is climatic conditions. Especially dangerous for them are snowy winters and prolonged cold springs, during which early broods die. Human economic activity also affects the number and vital activity of this hare, since it destroys or worsens its natural habitats.
