Easter Bunnies & Endangered Species

Press Release dated: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Did you know that Easter Bunnies, like Bugs Bunny are actually Hares? For centuries hares have been associated with the magical and mystical and the story of the Easter Bunny is itself a magical story. The first Easter Egg is recorded in 1280 and at that time when farmers came upon eggs in the fields as they ploughed they believed they could hatch into leverets - as the difference between rabbits and leverets is that rabbits are born naked and helpless whereas leverets are fully furred and active from the minute they are born. In fact the eggs would have almost certainly been those of lapwings or stone curlews but such is the mystery that surrounds the Hare.

The Hare was also associated with the moon goddess, and crops up in mythology and folk tales everywhere that hares are found - from Africa to China. The association with the moon is probably because they are often active, and particularly visible on moon-lit nights.

The cunning hare of Aesop, who was outwitted by the wily tortoise, usually manages to outwit the sly fox, and it is this clever hare that figured in the traditions of West Africa.

Slaves brought from West Africa into the New World took their folk-stories with them and it wasn't long before the slaves' version of African hare stories became our old favourite, Brer Rabbit. But Brer Rabbit, like Bugs Bunny is, in fact, a North American Jack Rabbit, which are actually hares, all belonging to the genus Lepus!
And if you look at the cartoon version of Watership Down, you will see the imagery has come full circle - the rabbits in that cartoon are more like Bugs Bunny than Peter Rabbit, Flopsy and Mopsy et al of Beatrix Potter.

Although Rabbits are a pest in many parts of the World, European Brown Hares are declining over most of England, and in other countries several close relatives are rare or endangered, such as the Sumatran Rabbit, the Mexican Volcano Rabbit, Assamese Hispid Hare, and the Ethiopian Hare. And there are also lots of fascinating new discoveries too - for instance it has only recently been realised that there are at least four species of Hare in Europe.

Meanwhile down in South America, the Patagonian Hare, is quite unrelated to the real rabbits and hares, but fills the same ecological niche and happens to look rather 'bunny-like'. The Patagonia Hare, or Mara, is, in fact, a large rodent more closely related to the Guinea Pig and Giant Capybara. Sadly, their numbers are declining too.
Like European Rabbits, Maras live in burrows, often in small colonies. But they have longer legs and smaller ears than rabbits and are more like a small antelope, as they bound through the grassy steppes of their native Patagonia. Nor do they "breed like rabbits" - having only one litter a year and usually only two pups. This slow breeding rate makes them very easy to extirminate, and they are now rare over much of their range.

The World Land Trust, working with the Fundacion Patagonia Natural, have purchased and created a 15,000 acre nature reserve in the coastal steppes of Patagonia, where species such as the Mara abound, and can live in peace. For details of how you can help conserve these delightful and unique animals visit the WLT's web site and find out more about Chocolate Easter Acres: www.worldlandtrust.org. And as you eat your Easter Egg this year give a thought to the strange tradition that all began with the idea that bunnies hatched out of eggs!

* John Burton is the CEO of the World Land Trust. He has hand-reared several European Brown Hares and has an extensive collection of hare-related objects and images.

For more information, contact: John Burton
CEO
World Land Trust
jab*at*worldlandtrust.org (To avoid spam, we cannot show the email address in full. Please replace *at* with the symbol @ in your email address field.)
Web site: http://www.worldlandtrust.org

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