Year of the Rabbit: Bunny Mania in Chinatown

On the 3rd of February 2011, the year of the rabbit will be ushered in with noisy fanfare, so if you’re in Singapore head down to Chinatown for bunnies galore. I saw a few Bugs Bunny, but I think Thumper from Bambi would be so cute. The March Hare from Alice in Wonderland is another of my favourite bunnies! The Velveteen Rabbit is a book from 1922 that i need to get and read. Jessica Rabbit might be a bit too sexy, but wouldn’t that be cool? Jessica Rabbit in a red cheongsam. And how could I leave out Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and company.

This post made me wonder. What’s the difference between a Rabbit, Bunny and a Hare? Right now I think that Hares live in the wild while rabbits are domesticated? I really have no idea. Let me google right now to find out and let you know. Ok here goes…. June Wingert answers this pressing question on a forum page at Mad Science:

This is a very good question because most people often confuse rabbits and hares, but they are very different in several ways. Hares are generally larger, and have longer hind legs and longer ears than rabbits. When hares are born, they have a full coat of fur and their eyes are open. Their mothers either drop them on the bare ground at birth or into a slight depression in the ground. A young hare is called a leveret.

Rabbits, on the other hand, are more compact. Their young, called bunnies, are born hairless and blind. The mother rabbit lines a nest with grass, bark and soft stems. Over this, she places a layer of hair that she plucks from her own body. When she leaves the nest, she covers the bunnies with more hair and dead plants to keep them warm and hidden from enemies.

Rabbits and hares both molt and then grow new hair. This happens in both the spring and in the fall. Rabbits’ brown summer fur is replaced with fur that is greyer. Hares, especially those living in cold, snowy regions, turn white in the winter.

Rabbits and hares are more active during the dark hours from dawn to dusk. Rabbits hide in either burrows or depressions in the ground during daylight hours. They try to keep hidden. Hares hide among plants and usually try to escape enemies by running.

Rabbits are often found together. Male rabbits even fight within a group to become the dominant male. The dominant male rabbit then mates with most of the females in the area. Hares live most of the time by themselves. They come together in pairs for mating only. There is little or no fighting among hares. They just pair off.

photo by bookjunkie

Golden decorations for the house.

photo by bookjunkie

These are elaborate bunny ang pow packets. Each child is eager to count the money they have received from these packets at the end of the Chinese New Year. Married people give these out. So if you’re Chinese and married you’ll be broke by the end of Lunar New Year festivities. Little kids will have pockets full of cash.