April Kids Corner - Spring Activities
from the Gale River Cooperative Preschool

April is a month when one rabbit in particular seems to get all the attention; The Easter Bunny! But do you know about the other rabbits that live in New Hampshire?

In this Kids Corner You’ll:

- Learn about the three different kinds of lagomorphs that live in New Hampshire (and what that word means!)

- Learn about how rabbits hop so you can identify their tracks in the wild.

If there’s one thing the Easter Bunny and other rabbits might want you to know, it's that they’re not rodents like many people believe!

Rodents and rabbits are both mammals, but they belong to different groups of mammals. Scientists call these different groups “orders”. Rodents like mice, rats, squirrels, beavers, and groundhogs belong to the order “Rodentia”. Rabbits, hares, and pikas are lagomorphs. They belong to the order “Lagomorpha”. They are different from rodents because they have one more set of upper teeth than rodents do! (These “extra” teeth sit behind the rabbits' two bigger front teeth, so they’re hard to see.)

Fun Fact: Both rodents and lagomorphs are known for chewing. Rodents and lagomorphs need to chew constantly because their teeth grow continuously for their whole lives! If they weren’t chewing all the time their teeth would get so long they wouldn’t be able to eat!  

There are three species of lagomorphs in New Hampshire; two rabbit species and one hare species. The rabbits are the Eastern Cottontail and the New England Cottontail. These species are so similar in appearance that it can be almost impossible to tell them apart just by looking.

Scientists think that the Eastern Cottontail may be more common than the New England Cottontail because their bigger eyes help them see better. Better vision helps keep them safe from predators like hawks, coyotes, and foxes.

The third species of lagomorph in New Hampshire is the Snowshoe Hare.

It’s much easier to tell a Snowshoe Hare and a rabbit apart in the winter than in the summer! Snowshoe hares change color with the seasons for camouflage. During the winter their fur is white and in the summer it’s brown. In the fall and spring you may see them with some brown and some white fur while they are transitioning between the two coats. Their bodies know when to make this change based on the changing hours of daylight throughout the seasons. Snowshoe hares also have giant back feet that spread out like a snowshoe to help them travel over the snow, and they’re also generally bigger than rabbits.

Your Turn

Can you recognize lagomorph tracks in the wild?

When rabbits and hares hop their two front feet hit the ground first, one after the other and one in front of the other. Then their back feet hit the ground at the same time, in front of their front feet.

As you can see in the images below, the tracks from lagomorphs’ front feet are offset from each other, and the tracks from their back feet are in line with each other. 

The offset tracks of the front feet are a good way to tell whether the tracks you’re looking at are from a rabbit or a squirrel. (If it isn’t obvious based on size.) Squirrels’ front feet hit the ground at the same time and next to each other, so their front foot tracks line up.

An Example of squirrel tracks:

Spring can be a great time to look for tracks because of the snow and mud! Keep your eyes peeled and see if you can find some rabbit tracks next time you’re playing outside!

Can you Hop Like a Bunny?

See if you can master the lagomorph hop! Hop like a bunny making sure your front “feet” (your hands) hit the ground one after the other and one in front of the other, and see if you can get your “back feet” (your actual feet) in front of your hands. If you can do this outside in the snow/sand/soft ground even better so you can see your tracks!

Sources

-  https://wildernessawareness.org/articles/rabbit-tracks-and-sign/

https://www.nhrabbitreports.org/species#:~:text=New%20Hampshire%20is%20home%20to,their%20first%20weeks%20of%20life.

-https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/species-occurring-nh/new-england-cottontail

-        https://www.nhrabbitreports.org/species/comparing-cottontails

-       https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/species-occurring-nh/snowshoe-hare 

Images (In Order of Appearance)

-       Andrew C, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Sylvain Haye, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       lwolfartist, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Colin Canterbury/USFWS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Anne Burgess / Rabbit Tracks

-       USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Saguaro National Park, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Jacob ogre, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

-       Kristian Pikner, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to our partner, the Gale River Cooperative Preschool in Bethlehem, for helping our area parents get kiddos outside for fun no matter the time of year.

We can't wait to share the family fun we're planning with you. Keep an eye out in the coming months for announcements.

Looking for more info on the Gale River Cooperative Preschool? Find out more by clicking the logo below!