Posted by Ray Rivard on February 04, 2002 at 3:35 PM:
Everything you wanted to know about Japanese rabbits (usagi) but you were afraid to ask....
Copyright 2000 The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)
January 25, 2000, Tuesday
SECTION: Pg. 11
LENGTH: 942 words
HEADLINE: Rabbit tales only for the hare-brained
BYLINE: Kevin Short ; Yomiuri
BODY:
Fans of Japanese fairy tales should be immediately suspicious of any fairy tale that mentions a "rabbit." The only rabbit native to Japan is the Amami black rabbit, a primitive species endemic to the island of Amami Oshima, south of Kagoshima. The critter known simply as usagi, that hops around Japanese forests and farmlands, appears in folktales and legends, and is even seen on the moon, is not a rabbit at all, but a hare!
Now some people might think this is splitting hairs, but rabbits and hares are different critters. Both are lagomorphs (members of the Order Lagomorpha), a group that also includes the little pika (Ezo-naki- usagi) found on Hokkaido. Lagomorphs are animals with powerful rear legs and a unique style of running.
They start off with a great push from the strong rear legs, fly through the air, then land first on their front legs. Before the next leap, however, the
rear legs actually cross over and come before the front.
This style of leaping can be read in the tracks that lagomorphs leave behind: two long prints side by side, followed by two smaller prints that are usually
staggered or offset. The long prints in front are made by the rear legs during pushoff, while the smaller ones in back are made by the front legs during
landing.
Lagomorphs also share a distinctive set of dentition. Like rodents, they have a pair of sharp, continuously growing incisors in the front of their upper and lower jaw, with flat cheek teeth set further back and separated from the front teeth by a gap called the diastema. The front incisors are used for gnawing,clipping or chiseling food, and the cheek teeth for chewing. The incisors are made of soft dentine, but are covered on the front surface only with hard enamel. The teeth grow continuously, and as the animal cuts tough plant material the soft dentine is worn back at an angle, forming a sharp, chisel-like edge on the front of the tooth.
Lagomorphs differ from rodents in that they have an extra set of incisors in the upper jaw, hidden right behind the front pair. These incisors, however, are
small and seemingly functionless. The evolutionary relationship between rodents and lagomorphs has yet to be clarified, but some paleontologists believe that
both groups originally sprang from a common ancestral lineage.
All lagomorphs are herbivores. Their dentition is specialized for clipping and chewing grasses, herbs and even young tree saplings and tree bark. A reliable field sign showing lagomorphs at work is plant stems that have been cut off neatly at an angle, like some miniature samurai had been practicing during the night with his sword.
Lagomorphs also share a unique digestive system ideally adapted to efficient processing of large amounts of rough plant matter. After being chewed, the plant material is sent through the gut, where the rough material, poor in nutrients after partial digestion, is filtered out and excreted in neat little round scat-balls. The softer, more nutritious partially digested material, however, is immediately re-swallowed directly after being excreted from the anus. In this manner the lagomorphs are able to extract the maximum amount of nutrition from their diet.
Rabbits and hares form the Family Leporidae. Both have long ears,exceptionally long rear legs, and short tails. Rabbits (genus Sylvilagus)usually live and nest in dens, sometimes large communal affairs called warrens. Their young are born naked, blind and essentially helpless. Hares and jackrabbits (genus Lepus), on the other hand, don't usually dig dens. Their nest is a simple depression in the grass, called a scrape, and their young are born fully haired and with their eyes open.
The Japanese hare (L. brachyurus) is endemic to Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. A separate species, the Ezo-yuki- usagi (L. timidis ainu) is found on Hokkaido, and is a considered a subspecies of the mountain hare that is distributed clear across the northern part of the Eurasian continent.
Japanese hares are common in the countryside around Tokyo, especially in areas where vegetables are grown on dry upland fields. These animals, however, are primarily nocturnal, so you will rarely see one, and you will usually have to settle for observing their abundant tracks, scats and feeding remains.
The Japanese hare has comparatively short legs and ears (for a hare, that is!). The hares in the Tokyo area and throughout most of southern and western
Japan stay brown all year around, but those in the heavy snow country of Tohoku and the central mountains molt into a pure white coat in winter.
In mountainous regions the hare's greatest natural enemies are golden eagles, owls, foxes and traditional hunters, but in the Tokyo area, their chief worry is
farm and feral dogs (very few cats would be willing to take on an adult hare!). Like most hares, the Japanese nousagi is an extremely alert animal. Without a den to retreat to or hide in, the hares rely first on their excellent hearing to warm them of the approach of an enemy, then on a burst of incredible speed to escape (easily leaving most dogs in the dust!).
The young hares, however, are more vulnerable. Mother hares only suckle their young for a few weeks, and even then only a few times each day. The rest of the time they are left to their own devices, and must quickly learn how to find food and escape predators.
They grow fast, feeding indiscriminately on almost all locally available plants (including vegetables!) and are ready to begin mating on their own before
they are a full year old. They would probably be insulted to know that some people are calling them rabbits!
LOAD-DATE: January 24, 2000