One of the Mysteries

The following is excerpted from The Leaping Hare by George Ewart Evans and David Thomson.

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The baby hare begins its solitude soon after birth. Its mother gives birth to it, and to two or three brothers and sisters, in an open nest called a form. They are born fully furred and active, with eyes wide open. . . . Baby rabbits start life pink and naked, blind and deaf and cuddle together with their mother, except when she goes out to feed, in a well hidden cosy place. Baby hares often live alone from a very early age, apart from their mother and brothers or sisters, each in its own separate nest or form. Until they are weaned their mother visits each in turn, and suckles them one by one where they nestle alone. It has been suggested that she gives birth to each separately in a different place, but this seems improbable because new-born litters are very often found in the same nest. The purpose of the separation is clear when one thinks of the dangers of a nursery on the surface of the land; only one can be taken by predators at a time. But how the move is done, if move there is, remains one of the mysteries on which observers contradict each other.


Image: “Harebell and Leveret” by Isabelle Brent.