This book for children presents fascinating facts about hares and India’s other incredible animals

CAW-CAW …

How lovely is this river! It is gurgling like ever-hungry chicks. Check out these old trees. The grasslands. And the herd of cheetal deer!

We are in the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka. It is in the south of India.

Do you see that brown rock in the grass? Yes?

Now keep watching.

Be still and silent.

Some more time.

Keep waiting …

See, the rock has started to move. And leap!

That leaping fellow is … no, it is not a rabbit. It is an INDIAN HARE.

Hares are found in most parts of India. But they love bush and grasslands.

Hare is a SMALL mammal. Like elephants are BIG mammals. And you are a mid-sized mammal. Well, to think of it, even you are a small mammal now. Aw-caw-caw-caw.

Are you scratching your head with this warm-blooded, coldblooded mumbo jumbo?

Think of a cup of chocolate milk. It’ll remain a cup of chocolate milk if you let it be. Now take an ice cream cone. It’ll melt if you keep it out. And freeze again in the freezer.

Warm-blooded animals like hares and you are the mug of chocolate milk. You all have an in-built temperature control.

Cold-blooded animals like lizards, crocs, snakes, frogs and fish are ice cream cones. Their body temperate changes as per the weather outside.

Sunny makes them active.
Cold makes them slow.

Oh … so you were not scratching your head because of this coldhot-blooded thing? Is it because of lice in your hair? My bad.

Hear, hear! There are no rabbits found in India! (Except the pet ones.) You only find wild hares in India.

How are hares and rabbits different?

• Hares are generally larger than rabbits and have longer ears with black tips.

• Baby rabbits are called kits (or kittens). They are born hairless, blind and with their eyes closed.

• Baby hares are called leverets. They are born fully furred, with their eyes open, and are able to move shortly after birth.

Caw … let’s make this more interesting.

Time for a rhyme!

Hare’s eighty-eight
Rabbit’s forty-four –
That’s chromosomes,
Not a jumping score!

Rabbits have “burrows”
Hares make “forms” –
Crows have no choice
But to live in dorms!

Caw-caw … that’s better.

Scientific name: Lepus nigricollis (Nigri-collis means black neck!)

Type: Mammal

Diet: Herbivore (grass, fruits, bark, veggies)

Weight: 2 to 4 kg

Avergae life in the wild: 4–5 years

Size: Up to 2 feet long (with ears)

Hares are masters of camouflage (cam-O-flaj).

What is camouflage?

It is nature’s game of hide and seek.
Can you blend into a rock?
Or grass? Or tree?
How cool would that be!

Many animals have fur and skin that are like a cloak of invisibility. If they remain still, it is very difficult to see them. They can fool the cleverest of hunters.

But not all the time.

Hoppy hare facts:

• Speed: 70 kilometres per hour!

• Jump: Up to 10 feet high.

• Group: Is called a “drove.”

• Babies: A mamma and papa hare can have up to sixteen baby hares per year

Since hares trim the grass …

… it helps other animals to move easily.

Where can you spot them in India?

They are widely found across India. You can spot them in grasslands, crop-growing fields, foothills, plains, clearings, scrublands and forests.

Since hares expand their families so quickly, they are prey for many wild animals:

• Leopards

• Hawks

• Eagles

• Mongoose

• Dholes (wild dogs)

Hares are becoming less and less, as they are losing their habitat to whooo-mans! And their buildings and roads and farming. They also get hit by vehicles.

Caw-caw. That is NOT good news for our forests and grasslands.

Hares…

• keep a healthy ecosystem.

• fertilise soil with their droppings.

• spread seeds through their poop.

We need hares! Hare, and there and everywhere!

And talking of poop …

Hares’ special menu
Is quite absurd –
It’s enough to shock
This humble bird!

In the world of hares
There’s this thing –
“Don’t you waste,
Eat everything!”

Whatever I find
In my beak, I scoop …
But hare-o-hare
It eats its poop

Caw-caw … Why do hares eat their own poop? To not waste nutrients. Yikes! And you call them cute, not ME!

Let’s say bye-bye to our hopping, poop-nibbling friend.

And travel to meet this brawny guy …

With a big false horn.

But wait, I smell popcorn!

Excerpted with permission from The Great Indian Safari, Arefa Tehsin, illustrated by Mohit Suneja, Puffin.