Leporidae

Three distinct species of this family have been found in Valorn to date. They are distinguished by their long hind legs, with four toes on each foot. Their front legs have five toes each. Their ears are distinctively elongated and mobile, giving them an excellent sense of hearing. They possess large eyes for their head size and they are primaily nocturnal. Their claws grip the ground easily when they run and along with the hairy soles of their feet improve their grip so they are quite dexterous in cornering.

Please Note: While the Clan of Shrouded Bunnies may wear ears and tails, they do not belong in this classification

Cute and Adorable Bunny

The once gentle retiring bunny has undergone some changes in recent years. While this member of the Leporidae group is still relatively harmless, it has been seen switching from its purely herbivorous diet into a more omnivorous one. When provoked it has been observed attacking humans and attempting to devour them. They do not appear to be any real danger to Adventurous, but their impact on town life as a whole has not yet been documented. Observers have seen some engaging in insectivore behavior, pursuing and eating small bugs and the like.

While the bunny appears mostly to inhabit the town of Dundee, perhaps due to the amount of refuse this now omnivorous strain consumes, sightings of original strain ones have been seeing being delivered by a mysterious pet shop. Perhaps this is where the safe, unaltered strain is kept. It is unknown if the two strains are distinct enough to be their own subspecies.

The bunnies kept in the hutch near Ryndal appear to be of this new altered strain as well. Weaker members of Adventurous have been known to release them and be surprised by their fierceness.

Carnivorous Death Bunny

One popular myth is that this creature was altered some time ago by an enchanter hired to provide more game challenging game animals at the Royal Hunting preserve. The Carnivorous Death Bunny reproduces as quickly as its original unmodified strain. Luckily the Roc, prides of the Catbeast, and others in the preserve find it as much a delicacy as smaller predator birds find the bunny. Even the death bunny itself will willing devour others of its kind in specific situations.

The death bunny is larger in size and well able to take down unwary adventurers along with its more common diet of Belligerent Bos. Its ability to leap, its sharp teeth, and bloodthirsty outlook makes it a feared creature.

As the alteration turned it fully carnivorous, it is unable to take advantage of the lush grass and greenery except as something to lurk in, waiting to leap on the unwary. Its near constant hunger makes it willing to attack anything that happens by.

The male and female bunny meet only during the mating season, which occurs several times a year, and the female bunny is left to raise the young alone. The male often brings a courting gift of meat to keep the female from turning on him. A female death bunny comes into heat within days of weaning her young and turning them loose. The scent of her pellets change and draw male bunnies near. If more than one encounter the female, they will often fight until the loser retreats, is too injured to continue, or dies. For the victorious male, the latter is preferable as the amount of meat will often render the female more receptive.

This solitary existence is very different from the more common bunny variety where the animals live in colonies.

Attempts to breed the beast in captivity have failed as without large areas to roam, the death bunny turns more homicidal and will attack others of its kind. From what few studies have been done, the bunnies live up to 5 years; however, luckily for the rest of Valorn, most die within their first year before reaching breeding age. This has kept their numbers low and encountering a bunny outside the preserve is rare indeed. No breeding populations have been found outside the Preserve environs.

Carnivorous Snow Hares

Possessing the longer ears and changing coat that bunnies do not possess, the differences of the hare may be seen from birth. While bunnies are born completely helpless, naked and blind, Snow Hares are born fully furred, able to see and capable of independent movement. Some of this may be an adaptation to the harsher environment in which the Snow Hare lives. While in warren or burrows, dominant male rabbits mate with most of the females in the area - hares live most of the time by themselves. They come together in pairs for mating only.

The Snow Hare lives in a difficult environment indeed – icy caverns. It appears to subsist on lichen, other cave creatures and the occasional Adventurous who happens by. It too has an omnivorous diet; however it is substantially more dangerous than the Cute and Adorable Bunny.

Meara “And... uh... bunnies and hares... um... scary? I mean, if first thing you see when coming to Valorn is a cute and adorable bunny trying to kill you...”