In Southern Canada and in the Northern United States,a doe rabbit may have a have three to five families, or litters, between March and September. In warmer climates, she may have more.
Rabbits and most hares have many babies each year. From one summer to the next, two pairs of rabbits could produce more than 160 children and 3,000 grandchildren! Now that's a lot of rabbits!
About four weeks after mating, the doe gets ready for the birth. She makes a nest in a shallow hole in the ground and carefully lines it with soft grasses and plants. She adds pieces of fur plucked from her own coat to make the nest extra warm for her babies. The nest is small and will only have room for the young babies called kits.
Crouching over the nest, the doe gives birth to a litter of five of six babies. The kits are tiny-only eight centimetres (3 inches) long! They cannot see and are completely helpless at this stage. Shortly after the book, the mother allows her babies to nurse. Then, to protect kits, she covers the nest with pieces of plants and she moves a distance away.
During the first two weeks, the doe leaves to kits alone except when it is time for them to nurse. Even then, she approaches the nest in a careful zigzag and leaps the last few in order not to leave a trail. In this way, she keeps the babies' hiding spot a secret from any animal that might be nearby. In their nest, the kits are safe from the most wild animals. But their opening can sometimes place them in danger at the hands of well-meaning person.A person who finds a nest often thinks that the mother abandoned her babies. Nothing is further from the truth! The mother is very near, and she is looking after her family in the best possible way. Baby rabbits.
Doe: Female rabbit or hare.
Litter: Young animals born together.
Mate: To come together to produce young.
Signed,
Kevin Ping-An Tang
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