19 out of 45 studies in the Palearctic listed leporids as the most common family of prey for golden eagles. Important prey species include the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) (in the Scottish Highlands and the French Alps), the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) (in the Scottish Highlands, Sicily, the Apennine Mountains, Switzerland, Spain, the Central Massif of France and the French Alps, in the first two sites mentioned, the rabbit is invasive species introduced by humans), the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) (in Switzerland, the Apennine Mountains, the French Alps and Armenia), the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) (in Japan), the Cape hare (Lepus capensis) (in Mali and Niger) and the Ethiopian highland hare (Lepus starcki) (in the Bale Mountains) In some areas leporids are secondary prey, such as Scandinavia, where the mountain hare comprised about 20% of prey items, the maximum known being 28.4% in Northern Finland. The tolai hare (Lepus tolai) was a secondary prey item in Mongolia, making up around 21% of prey. The European rabbit appears to be secondary in Hungary, where it comprised 14.3%.