Lopunny (Buneary)

Lepus maximus familiaris

Overview

Lopunny is a domesticated descendant of European diggersby. It is believed that they were first domesticated in what is now Germany and were, at least originally, much bulkier and not nearly as cute. Generations of selective breeding produced several different breeds of rabbit pokémon. Lopunny is by far the lithest of the diggersby descendants. They were selectively bred, originally by serfs for the quality of their fur and utility in defending the home.

Lopunny reliably shed and their fur is very warm when fashioned into a coat. In the old days few people bothered to work with the shed hair. They were instead killed and eaten during harsh winters to provide both meat and pelts. Pokémon rights movements during The Enlightenment often targeted this practice both due to the death of a pokémon involved and, if only subconsciously, its association with the lower classes. This resulted in the passing of bans or restrictions upon lopunny care by several European monarchs and nobles (as well as the Galarian parliament). The Kalosian Revolutionaries used that country’s ban as one of their arguments against the monarchy.

As the use of pelts taken from a live lopunny was banned, a handful of artisans began to experiment with making coats from shed fur. The result became a form of conspicuous consumption and a lopunny a symbol of wealth. The landed gentry of Europe largely scoffed at the coats as the vulgar business class showing off.

Lopunny almost never grow their proper winter coat in Alola, but the association has still made them popular among a strange mix of businessmen, youth, and recent migrants from the mainland. As a result they can be easily obtained from pet shops and small feral herds descended from escaped or released pets. They are tame, pretty and surprisingly fierce in battle.

Physiology

Buneary and lopunny are both classified as pure normal-types. The challenges to this designation are mostly from a taxonomical school that argues domestic breeds should retain the typing of their wild counterparts. Mega lopunny is recognized as a dual normal- and fighting-type. This designation also has some opposition from purists who argue that mega evolutions cannot undergo a type change, but this school of thought has substantially diminished in influence over the years as mega evolution has been more widely studied.

Buneary are bipeds with two layers of fur. One is cream colored and very fluffy. This coats their bottom half as well as the tips of their ears. The other layer is dark brown and covers the majority of their upper half. They have two dots of cream-colored fur over their eyes resembling eyebrows. Buneary ears can be half as long as their body. These ears do contain muscles, however they are nowhere as powerful as their equivalent stage in the diggersby line. For the most part they are used for emergency self-defense and balance. Their arms and legs do the heavy lifting. Because of the musculature of their ears, their hearing is not very powerful.

Lopunny are slenderer than their juvenile form. The positioning of their fur layers is less even and predictable. Lopunny usually have cream fur beneath the knee, around their arms and across most of their ears. The eyebrow spots on buneary become large crests by the ears that can be up to eight inches long.

Lopunny have proportionally longer legs, arms and ears with stronger muscles in all of them. However, due to centuries of selective breeding and the inbreeding that accompanies it, they have somewhat fragile bones. Lopunny heal faster than most mammalian pokémon but their relative frailty means that they seldom pick fights and prefer to pull their punches whenever it is safe to do so (see Mega Evolution).

At various times in the year buneary and lopunny have different fur layer configurations. During the winter and in colder climates they have more of the cream fur. In the summer they shed almost all of the cream fur and grow an entirely brown coat. In Alola lopunny tend to keep their summer coat year round. They still shed once a year, typically in early spring, and have a very thin brown coat for roughly one week until the thicker brown parts come back.

Lopunny grow up to 1.3 meters tall (with ears pointed straight down after the bend). They can weigh up to 30 pounds. Captive lopunny can live up to eight years; the life expectancy in feral populations is far lower.

Behavior

Lopunny are herbivores and feral colonies tend to live in lightly forested areas near meadows. They use the trees for cover at night and leave to graze in the meadow during the day. One or more lopunny will always be standing sentry while the others eat to keep an eye and ear out for birds. When birds do try to take a lopunny they often discover how hard the rabbit can hit when its life is on the line. The sentry duty appears to serve primarily to deter newly arrived birds and to appease the rabbits’ nerves.

Lopunny are very nervous creatures in the wild and have been observed moving in and out of panic attacks every few hours when in a group of fewer than five lopunny. In captivity they seldom have this problem and actually have a reputation for being one of the gentlest and calmest of the small normal-types. Having either a permanent home with a roof to retreat to or much larger creatures looking after them probably helps.

Lopunny sleep huddled together, even on the warmest summer nights. At least one is always awake. They sleep in shifts to relieve the night sentry. In captivity lopunny allowed to sleep near their trainer or larger pokémon tend to sleep through the night.

Like many other pokémon with fluffy white fur (ninetales, furfrou, cincinno), lopunny are somewhat obsessive with their grooming and can spend up to two hours a day maintaining their fur. They will allow trusted humans to groom them, although usually only in the form of petting or light brushing. A lopunny will almost never allow a torracat or incineroar to groom them.

Lopunny can grow to heights of four feet when standing upright. They can weigh up to thirty pounds. Captive lopunny can live for up to twelve years. Wild lopunny rarely live to the age of four.

Husbandry

Lopunny are easy-going pets that mostly take care of themselves. They also enjoy being around their trainer for most of the day. This gives them a reputation as a very good pokémon for young children or inexperienced trainers. There are still a few care guidelines to keep in mind.

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As herbivores, lopunny require a mix of plants fed to them several times a day. The ideal diet for their health is a mix of oats and hay. These are most commonly sold in very large packs for farm pokémon but smaller lopunny-specific packs do exist in specialty pokémon supply stores or some larger Pokémon Centers. It is best to mix in some leafy green pokémon mixes. Lopunny adore clover and it can be a very effective treat or reward.

While a lopunny is shedding they should be provided with a safe, enclosed space. They seem to be self-conscious during this period and hate being seen by their trainer or other pokémon, especially by mammals with strict grooming regimens.

Lopunny very seldom bathe in water but may sometimes elect to do so. They should never be forced into this because, even if they have been bathed before, they may interpret it as a threat and lash out. An adult lopunny is strong enough to crack human bones if they aren’t holding back.

While it is less obvious than with a diggersby or raticate, lopunny still need to be provided with logs or other hard objects to gnaw on to keep their teeth in check. If their teeth are frequently visible when the lopunny is not eating, this should be taken as a sign that they need to gnaw. Lopunny should also periodically be given scratching posts for their nails. Otherwise they will scratch furniture.

Lopunny are intelligent enough to understand several words and verbal commands. While not strictly hierarchal in the wild they are rather easy to tame so long as a trainer is providing a safe place, cuddles, and food. They can be trained to use a litter mat or box. Lopunny prefer to live inside full time but, provided they have a cage to retreat into, they can live in backyards. Very few lopunny tolerate pokéballs.

Never grab a lopunny too quickly or wake up a sleeping lopunny by touch. They may lash out in panic.

Lopunny are sometimes nervous around new carnivores or birds. Never leave them alone with even a very tame pokémon in these categories until they have been given a few weeks to acclimate to each other.

Lopunny sleep through most of the night and still take several hours of naps during the day. Buneary are more active but still somewhat lethargic. They prefer to sleep while cuddled against their trainer or a trusted, fluffy pokémon. If this is not possible, stuffed animals will sometimes work.

Illness

The most common problem for pet lopunny, aside from overgrown teeth, are hairballs. Lopunny are sometimes unable to vomit up hair they consume while grooming and it can mat in their stomach and block up their digestive system. Medication or even surgery are usually needed to deal with this.

Battling lopunny often break their bones. They heal well enough that with a simple splint and either time inside of a healing machine or heal ball, or a long rest outside of one, the bone will usually be restored. It will still break again more easily in the future. Lopunny should be retired from battling after a few serious breaks and allowed to live out the rest of their life as either a backyard or house pet. If this is not possible they should be put up for adoption.

Evolution

Buneary naturally grow up into lopunny over the course of roughly fifteen months. The formal demarcation line between buneary and lopunny is the growth of cream fur around their forepaws.

Mega lopunny are roughly the same height as normal lopunny and the few centimeters of growth observed can be attributed to changes in posture. Lopunny undergo relatively few physical changes at all when they evolve. The most notable change is the transformation of their ears from large, muscular pseudo-limbs into long whip-like instruments that are no longer either prehensile or useful for hearing. Lopunny lose their cream coat and gain a very thin brown- and black-patterned coat across their entire body.

The difference in speed and strength observed comes from psychological changes. Mega lopunny are unable to either feel pain or care about injuries, including self-inflicted ones. This gives them the ability to exert far more force than even a truly desperate baseline lopunny would. Incredibly dangerous offensive opponents, they are also some of the most fragile pokémon commonly used in the international battling scene.

Battle

As mentioned above, mega lopunny are one of the best examples of the glass cannon archetype in competitive battling. They enjoy widespread use in the European, American, Australian and international circuits. In the United States they are one of the most useful permitted mega evolutions and, even if they’re fragile, they breed and grow quickly enough to be considered replaceable. In battle they rely upon powerful kicks and strikes from their whip-like ears. They can outspeed some of the large dragons and beat all but the most powerful of physical walls into submission. However, one good hit is usually enough to take them out of the fight.

Normal lopunny enjoy far less usage. Their ease of care gives them some use among relatively new trainers but their fragility and frankly unexceptional power and speed prevents them from gaining widespread usage.

On the island challenge where very hard hitters are comparatively rare until the (optional) Elite Four and Champion battles, lopunny’s fraility usually isn’t a massive problem. The species is easy to raise before and after starting the challenge and have become a common non-traditional starter. They are powerful enough to reach the fourth island trials without many difficulties, although the last few steps might cause them some trouble.

Lopunny fight primarily through simple kicks. As normal-types they are capable of learning a fair few elemental attacks through TMs and special training, but their energy reserves aren’t deep enough for their projectile attacks to do much more than sting. Their fighting style is basic and easy to teach, but it’s also quite effective against most opponents.

Very durable physical walls and most birds counter lopunny. A handful of pokémon that hit fast and very hard can also take them out in one hit, but these are somewhat rare on the island challenge.

Buneary fight in much the same way as lopunny but with less power.Their ears are proportionally stronger relative to their legs and arms which makes attacks utilizing them a decent option for early battles.

Acquisition

There are feral lopunny herds on Route 1 and in Poni Island National Park. Capture from both herds is permitted without restriction and requires a Class I license for buneary and a Class II license for lopunny.

It is easier to just adopt them from the many shelters that have excess buneary and lopunny or buy them from breeders who specialize in the species. The licensing requirements for adoption and purchase are the same as those for capture. One caveat: many shelter lopunny are retired battlers. They can be useful for training other team members but they should not be used on the island challenge due to their fragile health.

Breeding

Lopunny mate during the late winter and females give birth to a litter of three to five buneary in the early spring. They will stick very closely to their parents for the next seven months and stay near them until or after their evolution. It is not particularly hard to breed lopunny in captivity. Put an unrelated male and a female together for long enough and they will mate. Don’t try and separate parents from children for six months as this is a good way to wind up with an upset lopunny, which usually means at least one broken bone in either the trainer or the pokémon.

Relatives

There are a handful of different breeds of domesticated diggersby, as well as diggersby themselves. Most lopunny breeds vary primarily in the thickness and color of their hair, their body size or how slender or bulky they are. They possess few substantial dietary, typing or anatomical differences. Most are entirely used in agriculture for either fur or meat. Many breeders around Paniola Town raise lopunny as either their primary species or a secondary one. Reach out to one if you are interested in raising one of the rarer breeds.