Easter(复活节) is still a great day for worship，candy in baskets and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies.

      And no，not because the kids like to pull their ears.The culprit is climate change，and some researchers found that rising temperatures are having harmful effects on at least five species of rabbit in the US.

      Take the Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, for instance.An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this species of cottontail is a great swimmer—it lives on the islands！—but it is already severely affected by development and now by rising sea levels. According to the  Center for Biological Diversity, an ocean level rise of only 0.6 meters will send these guys jumping to higher ground and a 0. 9­meter rise would wipe out their habitat(栖息地)completely.

      The snowshoe hare，on the other hand，has a color issue.Most of these rabbits change their fur color from white in the wintertime to brown in the summer, each designed to give them better cover from predators(捕食者)．As the number of days with snow decreases all across the country, however, more and more bunnies are being left in white fur during brown dirt days of both fall and spring，making them an easier mark for predators.Researchers know that the color change is controlled by the number of hours of sunlight, but whether the rabbit will be able to adapt quick enough to survive is a big question. The National Wildlife Federation has reported that hunters have noticed their numbers are already markedly down.

      American pikas or rock rabbits, a relative of rabbits and hares，might be the first of these species to go extinct due to climate change. About 7­8 inches long, pikas live high in the cool，damp mountains west of the Rocky Mountains.As global temperatures rise, they would naturally migrate(迁移)to higher ground­but they already occupy the mountaintops.They can't go any higher. The National Wildlife Federation reports that they might not be able to stand the new temperatures as their habitat heats up.

      The volcano rabbit has the same problem.These rabbits live on the slopes of volcanoes in Mexico, and recent studies have shown that the lower range of their habitat has already shifted upward about 700 meters, but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher, so they are stuck in the middle.Scientists are concerned about their populations.

       Native to the US, pygmy rabbits weigh less than 1 pound and live in the American West. They are believed to be the smallest rabbits in the world. Their habitats have been destroyed by development.Several populations, such as the Columbia Basin pygmy, almost went extinct and were saved by zoo breeding programs.Pygmy rabbits also rely on winter cover by digging tunnels through the snow to escape predators, but lesser snowfall is leaving them exposed.

      All of this gives new meaning to dressing up in a giant bunny costume this Easter.

          The largest land animal remaining on the earth, the African elephant, is of much importance to the African ecosystem. Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a giant planteater,  it  significantly  shapes  the  forest－and－savanna surroundings in which it lives, therefore deciding the conditions of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.

         It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it both a disturber of the environment and an important builder of habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and bushes, as well as pulls branches off big trees.   This results in numerous open spaces in not only deep tropical forests but also the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces, there are numerous plants in various stages of growth, which attract a variety of other plant－eaters.

        Take the rain forests for example. In their natural states, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants create open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large－hoofed plant－eaters to move around and for small－sized plant－eaters to obtain their food as well.

         Scientists are worried now that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant dies out, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forests and savannas, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.