Physical Description
Maras have stocky bodies, three sharp-clawed digits on the hind feet, and four digits of the forefeet. Maras have been described as resembling long-legged rabbits. Patagonian Maras can run at speeds up to 29 km (18 mi) per hour. Maras can weigh over 11 kg (24 lb) in adulthood.
Most Maras have a brown head and body, a dark almost black rump with a white fringe around the base, and a white belly.
Maras may amble, hop in a rabbit-like fashion, gallop, or bounce on all fours. They have been known to leap up to 6 ft (1.8 m).
Maras mate for life, and may have from 1 to 3 offspring each year. Mara babies are very well developed, and can start grazing within 24 hours. They use a creche system, where one pair of adults keep watch for all the youngsters in the creche. If they spot danger, the young rush below ground into a burrow, and the adults are left to run for it.
Read more about this topic: Mara (mammal)
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or description:
“The vanity of the sciences. Physical science will not console me for the ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science of ethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical sciences.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“An intentional object is given by a word or a phrase which gives a description under which.”
—Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (b. 1919)