In modern English, we often use the terms rabbit, bunny, and hare interchangeably. However, technically, a bunny is a baby rabbit, and a hare is not quite the same thing as a rabbit. In fact, hares are a different species entirely from rabbits. Both rabbits and hares come from the same general animal family, but they are about as closely related as a sheep is to a goat. Hares: Hermaphrodites or Something Else? Hares and rabbits share many … [Read more...]
Feeding Wild Baby Rabbits – Quick Facts
If you encounter baby rabbits (bunnies) in your yard and don’t see a mother nearby, your first thought may be that they’ve been abandoned. As you start thinking about how to take care of a bunny, you might imagine that it would be easy or fun, but caring for a wild rabbit is very different from having a pet rabbit. First, do not attempt to feed wild baby rabbits even if you think they may be hungry. You could easily do great harm, as only a … [Read more...]
Yard and Garden Conflicts with Wild Rabbits
As it turns out, wild rabbits want the same things in a garden that you do… flowers and veggies! After all the work involved in planting and tending to your garden and landscaping, it can be disheartening to find your precious flowers and vegetables nibbled away by wild rabbits. But conflicts with wild rabbits are not all one-sided. Raking and mowing often disrupts their nests. Cats who are allowed to free-roam catch and kill baby rabbits. When … [Read more...]
Did You Find a Nest of Baby Bunnies?
You walk around your yard, and suddenly you almost step on a nest of baby bunnies! There they are, in a shallow nest lined with fur and grass. They’re all alone, so your first thought is that they’re orphaned. The reality, though, is that mom is nearby but is staying away from her babies because she has an odor, but they don’t. She doesn’t want to attract predators due to her scent. So she only returns twice a day to nurse her babies, when no one … [Read more...]