European hares

Every year at Easter, children are told that the Easter Bunny lays and hides colorful eggs. Grandpas, grandmas and parents sometimes pretend they really saw a rabbit with a basket on its back. The children then go searching and find Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies and other sweets, even in unusual places—for example, under the bed or in trees. How on earth did the bunnies get there? And can rabbits even lay eggs and paint them in bright colors? Clever children know that only birds, fish, frogs, crocodiles and turtles lay eggs, because these animals reproduce by laying eggs. The stories about the Easter Bunny have a lot to do with spring and with customs that developed over the centuries. Maybe you can find out who really hides the colorful eggs. Easter bunnies probably only exist in people’s imaginations. Hares, however, are genuinely interesting animals. They are more accurately called European hares. Biologists also refer to them as “Lepus europaeus.”

Hares are often confused with rabbits. They are indeed closely related, but they are easy to tell apart. Brown hares can grow up to 80 cm long and weigh between 2.5 and 7 kg. Females are often larger than males, too. Rabbits are smaller than hares, with shorter bodies, and weigh between 1.3 and 2.2 kg. Hares are therefore significantly larger and heavier than their smaller relatives.

The upper side of a brown hare’s fur is greyish brown, while its underside is whitish. The tips of its ears are black; hunters call them “spoons”. Rabbits have similarly coloured fur. Hares’ ears are much longer than rabbits’ ears. Some breeds of rabbit are raised by people in hutches. Hares cannot be raised this way. Hares hide in shallow hollows called forms. If they feel threatened, they run away very quickly. Wild rabbits, on the other hand, dig burrows in the ground where they can quickly disappear.

Brown hares live along the edges of fields and in grassy areas with short grass. They are not found in forests.

They have very long hind legs. Their powerful hind legs help them run fast. When fleeing, they can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h. That makes them twice as fast as the fastest human. They can also zigzag, changing direction very quickly. Hares can do even more. They can jump up to 2 m high and 2.5 m far. They can even swim and climb. They can live up to 12 years, but most hares don’t reach that age.

Hares eat only plants. They like grasses and the plants grown in fields. Above all, they need plenty of herbs, which make up the “hare medicine cabinet”.

These include borage, dill, chamomile and marigold. These plants contain lots of minerals and vitamins. Hares also like fenugreek, basil, ribwort plantain and wild carrots. In autumn, they like nibbling on fruits such as corn. In winter, they gnaw on the buds, twigs and bark of woody plants.

Hares are generally peaceful and shy animals. They only fight among themselves when they want to mate. They stand upright and strike at each other with their front paws. It looks like a boxing match. They try to chase each other away this way. In the end, the loser hops sadly away. The winner mates with the female hare. After 42 days, she gives birth to up to five young, though usually only two or three. A female hare can have young up to three times a year. The first litter is born at the end of winter, in February or March. The young are born in a form. That’s the name for the shallow hollow where hares live. A form does not offer much protection, though.

Hares and rabbits

Hares and rab___ look quite sim___ . That's why they can eas___ be con___ . However, you can tell them apart by their ea___ . Hares are ___ger than rabbits and their ears are lon___ . Rabbits also dig bur___ in the ground. Hares nev___ do that. Young ha___ are born early in the year. They often suf___ from the cold wea___ .

Fill in the missing syllables and copy out the text.

About the Easter Bunny

The story goes that every year the Easter Bunny brings Easter eggs and other sweets to children. Some even claim that rabbits can lay eggs. But clever children know that ___.

Write down the beginning of the story and continue it.