[1] The Cape hare was one of the many mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Lepus capensis.

It has a fine, soft coat which varies in colour from light brown to reddish to sandy grey.

The Cape hare inhabits macchia-type vegetation, grassland, bushveld, the Sahara Desert and semi-desert areas.

Coprophagy, the consumption of an organism's own fecal material to double the amount of time food spends in the digestive tract, is a common behaviour amongst rabbits and hares.

This habit allows the animal to extract the maximum nourishment from its diet, and microbes present in the pellets also provide nutrients.