International Women’s Day (March 8) was only a few weeks ago and with that in the back of our minds it is interesting to see that things in the animal kingdom can be rather different considering gender roles. And of course we silly people explain this the wrong way sometimes. Rudolph the reindeer should have been called Rihanna or Rebecca.
Last January there was another series of Winterwatch at the BBC. From that wonderful show about British wildlife and urban nature, I learned that ‘it is both the males and the females [reindeer] that grow antlers’, however the males ‘drop their antlers after the rut – which is late Autumn or early Winter. The females don’t lose theirs until Spring. (..) So by having the antlers it allows [the females] to dominate the males and get first access to the food and that helps her with her cub.’
This means that that it is only female reindeer who bring Santa to all places worldwide at the end of December. And then Rudolph is at home babysitting?
With the upcoming Easter at the end of this month, I can’t help but to wonder if the Easter Bunny would also be a lady? I imagine that, after she gave birth to her kindles, dad can feed them (stored breast) milk while she does her job as the Easter Bunny. And when human kindles are walking around gardens looking for eggs, all female Easter Bunnies gather in the pub for a beer and a big cigar. Let them celebrate that the yearly task has been fulfilled.
And for those mother hares who are still giving breast milk there will be a cup of tea with some nice chocolate Easter eggs. Just like reindeer would threat themselves to candy canes after a long day of work?
You can find more information about Winterwatch (BBC2) here.
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This post is also available in: Dutch