They've been mentioned a few times by now, so here is a pair of tree hares kept in a terrarium for study. Don't worry they'll be released back into the wild unharmed.

Right here we have both a male and female of the species, they have yet to be given a scientiffic name but for the time being the name the given to them by local settlers suits them well enough.
On the left we have the female which has a more subtle coloration on the fur and wings and though the belly is a brighter color it's not as striking as the male's bright yellow and blue which seems to mimic the glow fruit that the tree hares prefer, the male also has a longer tail, typically about a third longer. The male itself can sometimes be slightly larger than the female, but generally they remain the same size.

Tree hares are crepuscular, most active during the twilight hours when they can easier spot their favorite food, the glow fruit. Although they can be seen as well during the day and rarely during the night as well when they are either migrating to a new area when food is running low, or they have their sleep interrupted by something. Their cat-like eyes allow them to see clearly in low light but during the day their eyesight seems somewhat reduced on clear days, this is when they are most vulnerable to predators which are birds of prey. Despite their name they do spend most of their time on the ground where they blend in with the red vegetation, the only time they spend in the trees is when they are foraging. They will look for glow fruit trees with low hanging fruit to entice them to flap up into the tree. It seems they are somewhat lazy, or they prefer to conserve energy since they only get into a tree that has fruit within easier reach, wether or not there is plenty ripe fruit on higher branches. Once they are in a tree, however, they will feast on all the ripe fruit and not leave untill there is no ripe fruit left. This can be a problem when large enough numbers of them find their way into a tree and they leave no fruit left behind. Though it is not a problem for the trees themselves but more so for those who grow glow fruit in an orchard meaning an entire harvest lost.

From observation the males use their bright underside colors to attract females during mating season, they do this by climbing into a glow fruit tree and hanging from a branch with their front paws, spread their wings and do a series of pull ups, climbing back onto the branch and calling to the females watching. If no females respond they will repeat the process untill one or more does. When there are other males competign for the females then the males will try to outlast the competition untill the less fit males have fallen from their branch so the females only have a few males to choose from as their partner. Typically only one or two young are borne by a single female, though a male can sometimes gather a sizable harem which means usually the older males who can have up to 14 or so females in a single mating season following him around. Mating season seems to happen once every other year since they raise their young for an entire year and they only leave their parents shortly before the next matign season. Initially only the female feeds her young untill they are old enough to supplement their diet with small pieces of glow fruit which the male will forage for on his own. For their small size they can have a rather long life span, estimated to be up to between 30 and 40 years. It is also suspected they could possibly be domesticated and kept as pets, or trained to perform certain tasks as they do seem rather intelligent and capable of learning by trial and error and observation as some study subjects have been reported to have figured out how to open their simple cages before proper terrariums were used that couldn't be opened from the inside.


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