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Riverine Rabbit

Bunolagus monticularis

Status: Critically Endangered. Diminished food sources. Females only produce one offspring each year, and so they are very slow to grow in population.

The Khoisan of Africa have a tale about the origin of death. The Moon wanted men to know that just as she waxed and waned, was born and died, and would wax and be born again, so too would humans. She sent Hare with this message.

Hare deliberately perverted the message, leaving out the rebirth part, saying, "As I die and perish, so shall you perish." When Moon learned of this, she beat the wayward messenger with a stick, thus giving Hare a cleft lip, and Hare kicked out at Moon and the great gouges from his claws are the dark streaks and spots we see on the moon's surface.

There are many variations of this tale. In one version Moon saw Hare weeping for the death of his mother. To comfort him, she gave him a message of the renewal of life. When Hare contradicted her, Moon struck Hare and confirmed the permanence of death. In other versions, it was a deliberate change to the message on Hare's part, but due to forgetfulness when he stumbled in haste and fell upon his face.

 

References:
Bascom, W. (1981). Moon Splits Hare's Lip (Nose): An African Myth in the United States. Research in African Literatures, 12(3), 338-349. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3818841

Von furer-Haimendorf, C. (1956). Hans Abrahamsson: The origin of death: Studies in African mythology. (Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia, III.) vii, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.