What does the Canadian Easter bunny look like? We investigate
Which bunny is it?
Ever wonder what a Canadian Easter bunny looks like? Chances are, it’s one of the country's native hare or rabbit species.
Let's investigate.
In Canada, the Easter bunny could be a snowshoe hare, one of our most common forest mammals.
Snowshoe hares like to blend in. (Wikipedia/ CC BY-SA 3.0)
Snowshoe hares are known for seasonal costume changes. They sport a white coat in winter and a brown one in summer to blend in with their surroundings.
The Easter bunny could also be an eastern cottontail.
Found in Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, these rabbits prefer the edges of open spaces and wooded areas. They're most active during dawn and dusk. Or maybe the Easter bunny is an Arctic hare, which is the largest of all hare and rabbit species found in Canada.
Arctic hares have a thick white coat that insulates against the cold and provides camouflage. They're highly adapted to chilly weather conditions and are known to dig holes in the snow to keep warm.
Left: An eastern cottontail (Wikipedia/lwolfartist/CC BY-SA 2.0). Right: An Arctic hare (Wikipedia/Steve Sayles/CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Easter bunny could also be a white-tailed jackrabbit which, despite its name, isn't a rabbit. It's a hare!
This species is fast, reaching speeds up to 64 kilometres per hour -- which is helpful if you have to deliver millions of eggs to Canadian households in one night.
A white-tailed jackrabbit. (Wikipedia/Connormah/CC BY-SA 2.0
Whether you're enjoying a sunny spring day or a late-season snowfall this Easter, we hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with nature, fun, and maybe even a glimpse of a real bunny in the wild.