Mountain hare lives at elevations from 700 to 3800 m, depending on biographic region and season. The mountain hare is a large species, though it is slightly smaller than the European hare. It grows to a length of , with a tail of , and a mass of , females being slightly heavier than males. In summer, for all populations of mountain hares, the coat is various shades of brown. In preparation for winter most populations moult into a white (or largely white) pelage. The tail remains completely white all year round, distinguishing the mountain hare from the European hare ("Lepus europaeus"),
Rabbit folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies. The rabbit as trickster is a part of American popular culture, as Br'er Rabbit (from African-American folktales and, later, Disney animation) and Bugs Bunny (the cartoon character from Warner Bros.), for example. Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature, in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters), in "Watership Down" (including the film and television adaptations), in "Rabbit Hill" (by Robert Lawson), and in the "Peter Rabbit" stories (by Beatrix Potter). In the 1920s, "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", was a