Spinning Tales About Rabbits

Rabbits are small hopping mammals.  North America harbors more than half the population.  Families include bucks, does, and kits (bunnies); habitats vary from deserts, to wetlands, to suburbs.

Though they are related, hares are usually bigger overall.  Baby hares (leverets) are precocial—born with fur, eyes opened, and capable of movement; however, kits are born altricial—with little or no hair, eyes closed, and helpless. 

Ubiquitous defines the eastern cottontail which reaches reproductive maturity at 2-3 months.  It breeds nearly year round in Florida, but mainly from February through September.  A nest is dug into a cup-size depression lined with fur and grass, even in an open yard.  Gestation endures 26-30 days, producing 3-4 litters yearly with 4-7 kits.  Kit mortality is at least 1 in 3 (nest flooding a factor).  After birthing, breeding immediately resumes.  In the wild, lifespan is 3 years.

This rabbit frequents edges offering cover and does not burrow.  It is most active at dawn and dusk—crepuscular.  It consumes green vegetation—herbivorous.  In the winter, nourishment consists of buds, twigs, and bark.  Chisel-like incisors neatly clip plants.  Incidentally, deer damage is ragged.

Nature accommodates survival.  Brown or gray fur provides camouflage.  Advantageous are long ears and fine vision.  Thumping forewarns danger.  Tails are helpful.  For example, when the eastern cottontail is pursued, its short and fluffy white tail becomes the focal point of the predator, such as a hawk or dog.  During the chase, the rabbit zigzags and the perplexed aggressor has to refocus on its prey.  This rabbit can flee at 18 miles per hour.  If apprehended, it kicks its powerful, large hind legs, applies its sharp claws, and bites.  

In Florida, another species is the marsh rabbit, an able swimmer.  The Lower Keys marsh rabbit, a subspecies, is labeled the “playboy bunny” because the Playboy Foundation partly funded its research.  The black-tailed jackrabbit, an introduced desert species, is actually a hare.  It displays characteristic long black-tipped ears.  Selected in the 1930-40 decades to train greyhounds in the Miami area, it still thrives particularly around Miami International Airport.

The invasive, burrowing European rabbits, are widely domesticated for pets, meat, and fur in a variety of colors and patterns.  They were extensively kept in ancient Rome.  The rex (named after the rex gene), from France, has velvet-like fur.  The Angora, from Turkey, is raised for yarn.  The Florida white (with albino red eyes) is popular for show.  The Belgian hare is a rabbit bred to resemble a hare.  Hares are not domesticated.

Eastern Cottontail - photo Brett Pigon

Did you know?  A fecund female rabbit might generate 800 descendants yearly.  When happy, rabbits jump in the air (a “binky”).  Their teeth wear down but never stop growing.  Their meat is leaner than chicken.  Their nitrogen-high urine enriches lemon trees.    Supposedly, around 600 BC in Europe, rabbit feet became lucky charms!

    

    Jumping Bunnies!!!       

Haiku by Hailey R. Scalia, 9
 Hip hop bunny flop

Out at morning out at dusk

      Goodbye fluffy tail!