March hares not so mad
NZPA-AP London Two scientists who spent 1500 hours watching hares have discovered that despite British folklore, the hares are no madder in March than at any other time in their January-August mating season.
Hares are traditionally said to go mad each March, standing up and boxing furiously with each other with their front legs. The Mad March Hare is one of the famous characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic, “Alice in Wonderland.” The mad chases and boxing bouts took place when amorous males made advances to unwilling females which tried to discourage them by running the other way or punching them with their forepaws, the researchers said.
But Mr Paul Greenwood of Durham University, and a wildlife researcher, Mr Anthony Holley, said in an article in the British science journal “Nature,” that with apologies to Lewis Carroll, the mad March Hare was a myth.
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Press, 14 June 1984, Page 30
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148March hares not so mad Press, 14 June 1984, Page 30
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