Easter Rabbit
Last week we learned about the ecology and behavior of the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). Now, following the Easter holiday, let’s learn more about the reproductive behaviors of cottontails, as well as why rabbits are an icon of Easter.
A cottontail on a dewy, clover covered lawn.
Rabbits are notoriously associated with fertility due to their high reproductive rate. Based on temperatures, food availability, and the change in daylight, breeding season can begin as early as February and last until September. With sexual maturity occurring as early as 2-3 months, juvenile rabbits can contribute to 25% of the young each breeding season. In the summer, food is abundant and litters are being born, with a potential of four rabbits inhabiting just one acre of land [1]. At night, a mating pair of rabbits perform their mating ritual where a buck will chase the doe until she stops to turn and face him, sparring at him with her front paws. Then, they crouch, facing each other, until one leaps two feet in the air, and this behavior is repeated by each within the pair. Gestation then only takes 25-28 days, and a doe can have between 1-7 litters each year (average of 3-4) with 1-12 baby rabbits per litter (average of 5). A few days before giving birth, an expecting doe will create a grass and fur-lined nest amongst tall grass, underneath a shrub, or in a hollow beneath a log. Litters receive little care from the mother, weaning occurring within 16-22 days, and the litter mates will disperse within 7 weeks of being born [2]. Although typically 80% of a cottontail population are young rabbits, much fewer will actually live to see a second winter due to hunting, predation, and the harshness of winter, and most do not survive beyond their third year of life [1].
Cottontails’ rapid reproduction rates can help to stabilize their populations in their rapidly changing habitats. In general, farming practices, road development, residential and city expansion, dam construction, and logging activity and subsequent forest succession impacts a habitat’s quality or size, which also affects cottontail populations. Each year, rabbit populations fluctuate in response to the changes to their habitat, either gradually increasing or decreasing. However, the reproductive potential of rabbits allows their populations to stabilize following adverse impacts, such as hunting [1].
Now that we know a little more about Eastern Cottontail reproductive behaviors and population dynamics, why exactly is this fertility associated with Easter? Along with attending an Easter church service, many Americans partake in Easter traditions such as coloring Easter eggs, finding Easter baskets filled with sugary treats, and participating in exciting Easter egg hunts that the Easter bunny may have left for the children. Generally, Easter is a celebration of the spring season and new life. While eggs and flowers are also symbols of female fertility, the bunny is a symbol of fertility in European traditions. Although, in European traditions, the Easter bunny is instead known as the Easter hare [3].
So, hare, bunny, rabbit— what’s the real difference between these terms for these long-eared furry critters? In short, hares and rabbits are different species within the family Leporidae, and bunny is a cute term for rabbit. While they look quite similar, hares are larger than rabbits, hares often make nests in grass instead of burrows, and an easy way to tell the difference is the appearance of their young. Hares are precocial, meaning their young are born with fur and their eyes open, requiring little parental care; rabbits on the other hand are born blind, naked, and more dependent on their parents, which is why a more secure nest or burrow is important [4].
Originally, rabbits were called coneys until the 1700s, based on the Latin word cuniculus; this is also the origin of the name Coney Island (Rabbit Island), being one of the only references to coney left in North America today. Rabbit was originally the word for the young of coneys, until it became so popular that it overtook the meaning. Hare has Germanic origins, related to haas in Dutch and Hase in German; the Old English word hasu (gray) may also be connected to hare. Bunny, interestingly, began as a term of endearment for a young girl, evolving to mean a young or small animal and now a rabbit [4].
(Images by Rachel Dressler)
As early as the Neolithic age, hares were ritually buried alongside European people; this practice may have represented rebirth. Then, in the Iron Age, these ritual burials were common, and Julius Caesar even mentioned that hares weren’t eaten in Britain due to their religious significance. In classical Greek tradition, hares would be sacrificed to the goddess of love, Aphrodite, while her son Eros often carried a hare as a symbol of his desire. Over the centuries, hares were often used in European art and literature as a symbol of sexuality.
Since the 17th century, the hare has been connected to Easter in German folk traditions, including children hunting for eggs scattered by the Easter hare— very much like is practiced in the U.S. today. Around the same time in England, some would participate in Easter hare hunts and the tradition of eating hare at Easter. Eating hares may be associated with the northern European folklore that believes witches take the form of hares, causing mischief. Thus, it may have been a tradition to banish the witches of winter during Easter. In Germany, Osterfeuer— Easter Fire—is one of these rituals that involves building a large bonfire to cast away witches. Generally, the spring equinox which symbolizes new life is in stark contrast to the winter and witches associated with death.
In 8th century England, April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre. Recent archaeological discoveries also suggest that the goddess Eostre may have been worshipped in some areas of England and Germany, with the hare symbolizing her. The spring-time pagan festival for Eostre eventually evolved into the Christian celebration of Christ’s resurrection. While other European languages refer to the Jewish holiday of Passover, like Pascua de Resurrección in Spanish or Påsk in Swedish, English and German have retained the older, non-biblical words for the Christian holiday— Easter in English or Ostern in German.
Our current day Easter bunny seems to be a remnant of these pre-Christian spring celebrations of Eostre and the equinox; as Christianity spread throughout history, the Easter bunny is now associated with the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After a long, brutally cold winter, it makes sense that people of the past wanted to celebrate these themes of new life, resurrection, and birth. Still today, Easter is associated with blooming flowers, birds laying their eggs, and animals having their young— such as the Eastern Cottontail [3]. Thus, with their high rates of fertility, hares and bunnies have become an icon of Easter.
I hope you enjoyed your Easter holiday— perhaps attending church services to celebrate the resurrection, racing to fill your basket with sugar-filled eggs, sharing a dinner with your friends and family, or dipping eggs to create a colorful masterpiece. If you see an Eastern Cottontail rabbit hopping by, I hope you can now appreciate that you have shared in these traditions which people have participated in over many centuries— for the purpose of celebrating new life.
Written by Faith Forry — April 19, 2025
Sources:
[1] https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/wildlife/discover-pa-wildlife/cottontail-rabbit.html#accordion-4c924b7521-item-24e9549d7a
[2] https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sylvilagus_floridanus/
[3] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ancient-origins-of-the-easter-bunny-180979915/
[4] https://www.dictionary.com/e/rabbit-bunny-hare/
