Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Here comes Peter Cottontail


I live in a big(gish) city, so I don't know if you'd expect to see a lot of wild rabbits here. We have them, though. They come and go rather quickly, being somewhat built for speed.

While rabbits aren't rodents―a fact that's been clarified since I was a kid―their faces look somewhat similar to those of squirrels. Their ancestors might have looked more similar still, before one took to a life in the trees and the other stayed on the ground, or occasionally under it.

2 comments:

susan said...


We've seen a rabbit or two around here, just enough of them to be certain there are many more going quite unseen. You can notice in the video how their eyes are big enough to be able to see and thus avoid capture - or being eaten which is worse.

Squirrels, of course, have the advantage of being able to scamper up the nearest tree. They aren't half so wary having the decided advantage of going verticle. Holes in the ground aren't nearly so safe. Flying squirrels have even more advantages.

Ben said...

Rabbits are one of those species who have eyes spaced widely apart and facing in pretty much opposite directions. This gives them a broader, more enveloping vision. It's an adaptation seen in many prey species, so that they're not attacked by surprise. Yeah, I'm sure there are many more around than you can see.

Of course we've all seen more than one squirrel whose remains have been flattened by a car. The trees do afford them a lot of protection, but they have to leave once in a while. That just means that there are n o 100% guarantees in life.