Fate of captive-reared brown hares Lepus europaeus released at a mountain site in central Italy

We conducted a radio-telemetry study of translocated brown hares Lepus euro paeus during March 1992 - November 1994 in a mid-elevation mountain site in central Italy. Of 44 hares released in the study area, 38 died during our field studies. Most hares (68.2%) died within 10 days after release, 7.89% died within 11-20 days, 2.63% within 21-30 days and 21.05% later than 30 da ys after release. We found no difference in mortality rates between sexes. Most of the hares were preyed upon by red foxes Vulpes vulpes or beech mart en Martes foina, but a few died of coccidiosis and various natural diseases . Some hares disappeared during the monitoring period. The average survival time was 52.7 days for males (N = 20), and 66.8 days for females (N = 21). We found no significant effect of sex, season or weight (g) on individual survival. Nearly all of the hares dispersed randomly from the release site within a radius of 1,200 m. We found no significant effect of survival time on dispersal rates, nor did we find any significant intersexual difference in the maximum distances moved by translocated individuals. We did not obs erve this trend among females. Season, survival time and individual weight did not influence individual dispersal, whereas sex had a significant effec t, as males tended to disperse farther than females.