Collared Rabbit

There is a certain rabbit of which I know.  He lives in a little strip of trees in the midst of an industrial area.  He's drawn my attention in particular because he's collared.

His collar is not natural.

When I first noticed him, in the summer, I thought he had been attacked by a hawk because I saw a large, reddish patch on the back of his neck.  I thought it was blood.

As he moved about, I got a closer look and realized it was something orange wrapped about his neck.  Snow fencing.

The horror of it hit me!  Images of that poor, struggling creature trapped in the fencing played out in my mind.  I was so saddened by the sight that I talked to some of my friends about the rabbit.  They had seen him too, and had tried to capture him in order to remove the fencing, but he had eluded them.

After that first sighting, I looked out for him whenever I could.  He had my pity, and I wondered how long he would live with such a handicap.

Recently, on a sunny winter afternoon, I saw him again with my camera at hand.  I was able to get these photos as he basked in the waning sunlight.  He had a companion a few feet away.

He's a timid fellow, as most rabbits are, but he's also a survivor.  There are no pleasant meadows where he lives, and no gardens to provide an occasional gourmet snack.  He lives in a sort of wasteland, with a wretched encumbrance, yet he survives and even thrives.  I'm glad to take a lesson from that.

Rabbit Surprise

This rabbit surprised me the other day as I was walking along the boardwalk above the river at Lock & Dam 14.

If he had stayed still, I never would have seen him.  As much as I like to think I notice things, it's usually only when an animal moves that I realize they are even there.

This bunny scurried about five feet and then froze in place again - without a lot of cover around him.

And then, in a moment, he had disappeared uphill into the brush and was gone from view.  

Going Tharn

Watership Down is a book written by Richard Adams.  In that book, a group of rabbits leave their home warren and make their way in the world, encountering many challenges to their survival.  Adams included several words of his own invention to describe the rabbit culture in his story.  The word "tharn" is one of them.  It means frozen with fear, where a rabbit is so scared that he freezes on the spot and presses himself to the earth in spite of oncoming danger.  And that is exactly the word that popped into my head when I saw this rabbit.

He had gone tharn.  This rabbit was not eating, and he was not sleeping.  He could clearly see us, but made no move to run away.  In fact, he didn't move a muscle.  Everything about him - his behavior and posture - said "Stay away!"  Something was not right.

I wondered if he was truly just scared out of his wits, or if he was too sick or injured to move.  Rabbits do not usually sit still in plain sight and in close proximity to humans the way this fellow was.  Normally they hop away quickly to shelter, such as a nearby bush.

His ears were lying back in an unnatural way and it was pathetic. in the true sense of the word, to see him display this odd behavior.  We quickly left the poor creature alone, so as not to traumatize him any further.  When we came back through about an hour later, he was gone.    

Security Camera Eyes

Here's a bunny.  See his eyes?  See how big they are, and how they stick out past the sides of his face?

Eye placement on the sides of the head is a feature that many prey animals have.  They are constantly being stalked from the ground and the air, and need to be able to see what is going on all around them.  Their eyes are set on the sides of their heads, and stick out this way so that they can see what is coming at them, even from behind.

Take a look at this bunny from the back.  You can really see how the eyes protrude from the side of the head, and provide extended viewing capacity.  These are like 360 degree security cameras!

Eye placement is very different in predators.  Their eyes are set more in the front of their heads than on the side, giving them binocular vision.  This helps them greatly to be able to see what it is they are chasing for dinner.  Herbivores like rabbits don't need that so much.  Their food isn't fleeing.  They need a wide field of vision in order to keep a look out for pesky carnivores.

(Many thanks to model, Mr. Pete Kittantale; wardrobe designers Mammals B We; and grooming and hair styling salon Buck Tooth Barbers.)

Cottontail

This Eastern cottontail was out early one morning as I was walking.  I was happy to be able to get so close to it - usually they run away very quickly at the least sign of my approach.

It was a shy little thing, but still brave enough to keep just a few steps ahead of me as it was eating its way along the path.

One interesting fact about rabbits, is that they excrete two kinds of droppings - hard and soft.  The soft pellets contain undigested material, and are immediately eaten again.  In this way they can get more of the nutrients out of the raw plant material they have eaten.

Eastern cottontails do not dig burrows, but make nests in small depressions in the earth or among grasses or brush.  They are, of course, the epitome of the word "prey" and are eaten by foxes, coyotes, bobcats, owls, and hawks, among other predators.

Bunnicula

"I vant to eat your vegetables!  Muahaha!"

(The title of this post is in reference to the humorous children's book of the same name, written by James Howe.)