Coco yam vs European hare

Colocasia esculenta compared with Lepus europaeus

Key Differences

• Coco yam is Not Evaluated while European hare is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coco yam	European hare
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Lagomorpha (Rabbits & Hares)
Family	Noctuidae	Leporidae (Rabbits & Hares)
Genus	Colocasia	Lepus
Species	Colocasia esculenta	Lepus europaeus

Evolutionary Relationship

Coco yam and European hare share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Coco yam

NE — Not Evaluated

European hare

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coco yam	European hare
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Coco yam

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (30 countries), Asia (6 countries), Europe (9 countries), North America (8 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (8 countries), and South America (6 countries).

European hare

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, among 7 distinct biome types within the Neotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (10 countries), North America (4 countries), and South America (8 countries). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Coco yam

Coco Yam (Colocasia esculenta), also widely known as Taro, is a pantropical herbaceous plant in the family Araceae, cultivated as a food crop for more than 10,000 years and considered one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants. The species grows from large starchy corms and produces broad, sagittate leaves with distinctive water-repellent surfaces—an adaptation that has earned the plant its association with the lotus effect in traditional culture. Corms, cormels, and young leaves are all edible after thorough cooking, which is essential to neutralise the calcium oxalate crystals that cause intense irritation when raw. Originating in South and Southeast Asia, Colocasia esculenta has been dispersed across tropical Africa, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and the Americas through centuries of agricultural exchange and migration. It thrives in wet or waterlogged soils, being particularly associated with paddy cultivation, irrigation channels, and swampy ground, though drought-tolerant cultivars exist. The species is a dietary staple in Hawaii, where it is the basis of poi; in West Africa, where it is boiled or pounded; and across the Pacific Islands, where it sustains subsistence communities. Given its widespread cultivation and genetic diversity represented across thousands of landraces, IUCN has not formally evaluated its conservation status. The species is not considered at risk.

European hare

European hare (Lepus europaeus) is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. Close to qualifying as threatened, with populations that may become vulnerable without conservation action.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 9 countries:

🇧🇷 Brazil 🇫🇷 France 🇬🇷 Greece 🇮🇹 Italy 🇳🇴 Norway 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇺🇸 United States 🇻🇪 Venezuela