By the way, that little hair on the third paragraph I thought was on my phone or something until I couldn't wipe it away!
(I wouldn't recommend reading your pieces in the phone anyway because you have to zoom in on the scan. (You should fax the entries to those subscribers with a fax machine.))
I actually have two free-roaming, litter-box trained (yes, they poop in a litter box!) rabbits. I rescued the first one in 2020. She was living in the engine block of a car where I worked. She had a little harness on, so I didn’t know if she was abandoned or escaped, but I caught her and took her home. That was, ironically, Easter Weekend of 2020. I learned more about rabbits that weekend than I ever thought I would in my life.
They are certainly curious critters and they are very unique animals. For example:
- They cannot throw up.
- Their teeth never stop growing.
- They are the only animal that has “hind gut.”
- They are the only known animal to eat what’s called a cecal pellet (or cecotrope)—it’s essentially a mucous-covered ball that contains nutrients that the rabbit wasn’t able to digest in its original meal.
- Lastly, they are considered an exotic animal—so if you keep one as an actual pet, their vet is one who deals with exotic animals. Rabbits need vaccinations yearly and they do have issues where they need to be seen by a vet.
They are cute little critters and are fun to have, but they are also very sensitive the smaller they are. Mine are 4-lbs and 2-lbs rabbits. Tiny things.
When Pico, our Pomeranian, was younger, he was The Bunny Hunter, or the ninja. He is black as night and disappears in shadows (and has corralled a couple squirrels as well).
I had to take three or four bunnies away from him over the years. He /brought/ them for me to observe and possibly approve of — I never did approve.
As he’s gotten older he’s not able to keep up. Now it seems he wants more to play with them.
I am so happy that I built my shed 9 years ago with a sloping yard toward the back of it, leaving enough room for these furry friends to squeeze in and start their warren. Several generations have inhabited it and Pico has “played” with every one.
That's interesting about the different ways the Eastern Cottontails evade and escape capture. I see them quite regularly on my hikes and am able to get some decent photos due to their freezing in place. The area where I regularly hike used to have quite a lot of them and they were becoming nearly half tame.
The local Red Fox families have grown in number though the past two years and seem to have restored some balance. I love how Nature restores that balance.
«Jumping straight into hunter's arms» happens because most of rabbits' natural enemies are smaller than humans, except for bears (who usually don't actively hunt rabbits anyway); and hands of a standing adult human are about as high as a rabbit can jump.
Rabbits have few or no instincts for dealing with human-sized opponents. What they really do is jump at something vertical and bounce off it to change direction abruptly; this is something rats do, too. Thence the belief that «a cornered rat will fight», which is mostly a myth. They're just looking to bounce off you and run away; but humans in turn have inherited an instinct to grab anything that flies at them. :)
Oh dear. My first thought was of rabbit stew which I love to cook and eat. Which it sounds like your town would be a good source for! I don't think that's what I SHOULD be thinking!
Thanks for sharing the post on rabbit metaphors for ancient Coptics that was brought to light. “The rabbit is the only animal that becomes smart unto salvation when in mortal danger.” (Bernhard Grzimek). Fascinating!
Time well spent in this read and following all the rabbit trails posted in the comments! I've always loved them but will never take the appearance of their seemingly simplistic lives for granted again.
Watership Down was an interesting interpretation of the world as seen by rabbits with themselves filling the roles of hero, etc, but I remember that their cultural mythic hero was the Trickster
My yard bunnies love bird seed. When they first started showing up I went to pet store and bought them some rabbit food, but they would have none of it.
They get pretty tame and love the special bowl I got for them.
Here in Georgia, I have rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, armadillos and that is just in my yard. I had to put a fence up around my garden because all of them seemed to enjoy whatever I am growing I also have to put a net over the top because some of the birds have the same appetite. This house was in the country when my wife moved here and was mostly the same way when I moved here but things have changed in the last 25+years so trying to "dispatch" some of the animals causes the neighbors to think a war has started so I am left with the fence and defending my garden with a stick.
By the way, that little hair on the third paragraph I thought was on my phone or something until I couldn't wipe it away!
(I wouldn't recommend reading your pieces in the phone anyway because you have to zoom in on the scan. (You should fax the entries to those subscribers with a fax machine.))
Would like to see an optical character recognition generated page accompanying the scanned typewritten page.
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
I actually have two free-roaming, litter-box trained (yes, they poop in a litter box!) rabbits. I rescued the first one in 2020. She was living in the engine block of a car where I worked. She had a little harness on, so I didn’t know if she was abandoned or escaped, but I caught her and took her home. That was, ironically, Easter Weekend of 2020. I learned more about rabbits that weekend than I ever thought I would in my life.
They are certainly curious critters and they are very unique animals. For example:
- They cannot throw up.
- Their teeth never stop growing.
- They are the only animal that has “hind gut.”
- They are the only known animal to eat what’s called a cecal pellet (or cecotrope)—it’s essentially a mucous-covered ball that contains nutrients that the rabbit wasn’t able to digest in its original meal.
- Lastly, they are considered an exotic animal—so if you keep one as an actual pet, their vet is one who deals with exotic animals. Rabbits need vaccinations yearly and they do have issues where they need to be seen by a vet.
They are cute little critters and are fun to have, but they are also very sensitive the smaller they are. Mine are 4-lbs and 2-lbs rabbits. Tiny things.
Pictures forthcoming!
As long as the human hunter’s not deploying the holy hand grenade of course! (Couldn’t resist another Monty Python reference).
When Pico, our Pomeranian, was younger, he was The Bunny Hunter, or the ninja. He is black as night and disappears in shadows (and has corralled a couple squirrels as well).
I had to take three or four bunnies away from him over the years. He /brought/ them for me to observe and possibly approve of — I never did approve.
As he’s gotten older he’s not able to keep up. Now it seems he wants more to play with them.
I am so happy that I built my shed 9 years ago with a sloping yard toward the back of it, leaving enough room for these furry friends to squeeze in and start their warren. Several generations have inhabited it and Pico has “played” with every one.
That's interesting about the different ways the Eastern Cottontails evade and escape capture. I see them quite regularly on my hikes and am able to get some decent photos due to their freezing in place. The area where I regularly hike used to have quite a lot of them and they were becoming nearly half tame.
The local Red Fox families have grown in number though the past two years and seem to have restored some balance. I love how Nature restores that balance.
«Jumping straight into hunter's arms» happens because most of rabbits' natural enemies are smaller than humans, except for bears (who usually don't actively hunt rabbits anyway); and hands of a standing adult human are about as high as a rabbit can jump.
Rabbits have few or no instincts for dealing with human-sized opponents. What they really do is jump at something vertical and bounce off it to change direction abruptly; this is something rats do, too. Thence the belief that «a cornered rat will fight», which is mostly a myth. They're just looking to bounce off you and run away; but humans in turn have inherited an instinct to grab anything that flies at them. :)
'The Creggan White Hare' performed by Daoiri Farrell
https://youtu.be/UPI_tHNjS78?si=tFHKLggkpoLtmqI4
He speaks of the white hare’s fears, and yet every hare I see in my neighborhood is supremely confident in their ability to escape.
They jump higher, and squeeze through more narrow slats as to approach the limits of mortal rabbit-thinness than I’d ever imagined.
But love his ballad nonetheless.
Great listen❣️ Thanks for sharing!
Oh dear. My first thought was of rabbit stew which I love to cook and eat. Which it sounds like your town would be a good source for! I don't think that's what I SHOULD be thinking!
Thanks for sharing the post on rabbit metaphors for ancient Coptics that was brought to light. “The rabbit is the only animal that becomes smart unto salvation when in mortal danger.” (Bernhard Grzimek). Fascinating!
Those wascully wabbits! Interesting. Good link as well.
Time well spent in this read and following all the rabbit trails posted in the comments! I've always loved them but will never take the appearance of their seemingly simplistic lives for granted again.
Watership Down was an interesting interpretation of the world as seen by rabbits with themselves filling the roles of hero, etc, but I remember that their cultural mythic hero was the Trickster
I love the typewritten page! 💜💜💜
Do you collect them in a folio or bind them together or send them to your friends and loved ones?
I collect them in three ring notebooks. I started doing this in May of 2020, so I have well over 1,000 pages spread across multiple notebooks.
That is very exciting.
My yard bunnies love bird seed. When they first started showing up I went to pet store and bought them some rabbit food, but they would have none of it.
They get pretty tame and love the special bowl I got for them.
Here in Georgia, I have rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, armadillos and that is just in my yard. I had to put a fence up around my garden because all of them seemed to enjoy whatever I am growing I also have to put a net over the top because some of the birds have the same appetite. This house was in the country when my wife moved here and was mostly the same way when I moved here but things have changed in the last 25+years so trying to "dispatch" some of the animals causes the neighbors to think a war has started so I am left with the fence and defending my garden with a stick.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosa%C3%AFque_Li%C3%A8vre_croquant_du_raisin.jpg
Google Translate translates the French filename as “Mosaic Hare crunching grapes.jpg”.