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Short-Eared Rabbit (UK)?

A

Anonymous

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My university campus is (although on the edge of a city) in quite a countryside-ish area, and it is commonplace to see squirrels, rabbits and (at night) foxes running around near the residences. However on 2 occasions recently I have seen a creature which looked like a miniature, short eared rabbit.

The first time I saw it I was walking down the path, and it ran across and disappeared into bushes. It was smaller than an ordinary rabbit (not much bigger than the squirrels in body length, but more heavily built) and the usual grey/brown rabbit colour, but it had very short ears, no longer in relation to its head than the ears of a squirrel. If I did not know this was genetically impossible, I would have imagined it to be a hybrid between a rabbit and a squirrel.

A few weeks later I saw it again, in exactly the same place (so probably the same animal, or one of a family), this time it was next to 2 squirrels. It seemed a bit bigger than the first time, so maybe it was a young animal that is still growing, and this time I could see that it had the definite rabbit short, white tail and moved with its hind legs together like a rabbit, although it had a sort of bounding motion that was a bit squirrel-like. However the animal was definitely a rabbit ofsome species, but with very short ears.

So - a one off mutation? An out-of-place foreign species of rabbit? Perhaps an escaped domestic breed? I know pet rabbits do escape and interbreed with wild rabbits, and I think there may be some "dwarf" breeds of rabbit which have shorter than normal ears.

Then again I could just be utterly ignorant about the growth of rabbits and perhaps they all have short ears when young, only getting long ears on reaching maturity - in which case this would not be cryptozoological at all (but maybe still interesting).
 
Sounds like an escapee or the offspring of one. Out in the middle of the country where I'm from it used to be quite common to see black, white or rabbit coloured with white collar, rabbits among the wild population. They had normal ears though. Normal rabbits ears are always long in relation to the size of the animal.
Could you get a pic of the creature and post it here?
 
Squirrabbit update

I saw the animal again and this time got a much clearer view of it. I now believe it was not in fact a rabbit, but a squirrel which had lost its tail in some sort of accident. The animal was just across the path from where I saw it previously, and I was able to approach it more closely than before until it ran up into a tree, climbing like a squirrel but seeming somewhat clumsy, presumably because of the lack of a tail to aid its balance. Standing below the fork of the tree (which was probably 3.5 to 4 metres above ground) I could see it very clearly especially the head which was obviously a squirrel head.

Perhaps its tail had been bitten off by one of the local foxes or even run over. I have seen other squirrels which had lost parts of their tails or had obviously broken tails presumably due to attacks from other creatures. However the "squirrabbit" was still unusual in 2 other ways, ie. :

1) It was considerably bigger, especially fatter, than the other squirrels in the area.

2) It was a more rabbit-like shade of brown, not so grey as the other squirrels.

I am guesing that perhaps the squirrel had become fatter, and maybe its coat changed colour, because the loss of its tail stopped it from climbing as easily as other squirrels (it seemed unable to get above the main fork in the tree). This could have meant it had less exercise, or even changed its diet. Or could the loss of its tail perhaps triggered growth hormones or similar effects?

Anyway it wasnt a "squirrabbit". ;)

Then again I was so sure it was of the rabbit species when I first saw it that perhaps it wasnt even the same animal, but this seems to be the most rational explanation - after all tailless cats were behind the stories of "cabbits". Oh well, I *nearly* saw a cryptid...
 
Good to get this solved, though it must be a very big squirrel to be mistaken for a rabbit. There are variations of colour in squirrells, some I have seen in Ireland are clearly grey squirrells, but have brownish red fur on the back.
Maybe you are like a Jack Russell of mine (now sadly deceased), who confused rabbits and squirrells. She used to get incredibly excited by squirrells and climb the easier trees after them, while barking madly. Then she would get stuck at about 10 foot and muggins here would have to climb up to lift her down. I often wondered did they have a strong smell that she could get, as none of our other dogs have shown more than a very minor interest in them.
 
Sounds like a baby/very young rabbit.

Their ears are short & rounded & I have seen them like this outside their burrows.
 
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