Are these bunnies strays?

[Hannah]

I was walking around my campus at about 2am last night, and at one poitn I walked up a set of stairs and, to my great surprise, noticed two little bunnies to my left. Without really thinking much about it I pulled out my camera to take a picture, but the more I thought about it and watched how they were acting, the less I was sure they were wild bunnies. On the one hand, they *were* small and brown with white undersides, but they also didn’t seem very scared of me (they did still try to run away, but they let me get much closer than say, the bunnies in my backyard), had shortish ears, and one of them washed his face in front of me. I also thought it was strange that they were out not only together, but at 2am. So, without further ado, here’s the picture I took– what do you guys think? Am I being paranoid, or do they look like strays?

 

12174924571.jpg

[Sarita]

Very hard to tell with that picture really. All I see are glowing eyes really.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

yeh I find it hard to tell as well. What do wild rabbits in your area look like…Do these resemble them at all?

[kralspace]

I copied the photo and washed it out til you can see their outlines, sorry, it was so dark (well, she did say it was 2am…lol) there weren’t a lot of details to be brought out.

 

121235645971.jpg

[Hannah]

I had thought that they didn’t, because the bunnies in my backyard are much “pointier” looking than these ones. They have longer limbs and ears, and more streamlined faces– however, one of my suitemates just informed me that the bunnies at his house on the Cape look like that, and that North Quad (where I was wandering around) is known to have a lot of bunnies, and that he’s seen them there before. Apparently it’s the bunnies in my yard that are strange! We may have a different kind of cottontail there than here. So anyway, I think it’s been resolved, but I’m going to go back around the same time tonight if I can and see if they’re still there.

[Hannah]

(Also, I apologize for how dark the picture was– I took a few and that was the best. u___u The flash didn’t do a very good job of lighting up the environment.)

[angoralvr]

If these bunnies are indeed wild bunnies from the area. I would think it is likely that much of the “wildlife” in the area has probably become accustomed to seeing lots of people. Do you go to a big school? If so, it’s not all that uncommon on big university campuses (and popular vacation resorts for that matter) to see wildlife that doesn’t really seem to be scared of passersby. At least that’s how it is around here.

[xnovalentine]

Along the lines of what Angoragrl is saying, at my school the squirrels are so accustomed to people, they let us feed them and they will sit next to you on the benches (it happend to me once…it was sooo funny!). Maybe they were just accustomed to see people around, even at that time at night (it is a university!!!).

[MimzMum]

When I autofixed the levels on the picture, the buns were very brownish looking to me with very bright white fluffy tails. Where I am, our wild buns can look like that, but usually have a longer head and neck. These little guys have theirs tucked in pretty tight, so it’s hard to tell.
If I had to take a guess, I’d say wild. But I don’t know every variation of the species, so…. :/

[Scarlet_Rose]

They look wild to me, espcially with that brown agouti color.  Here are some pictures I located of wild rabbits;

Take a look here for some wild MA rabbits found by the Charles (these look like a match):

http://www.northrup.org/photos/crap/Animals2/nl-80.htm

[skunklionshow]

I agree that college animals tend to be overly friendly.  I went to undergrad in Chgo and our campus was directly on the lake shore.  We had the fattest friendliest squirrals around.  One of the little guys used to do tricks for food.  What I’m trying to say is often wild animals can develop odd social habits for food & survival.  I’m guessing they are wild.

[wendyzski]

Northwestern or U of C?

[skunklionshow]

I went to Mundelein College.  It is on the shore side of Loyola Univ.  Mundelein was taken over by Loyola during my freshman year.  Loyola ended up taking away my scholarship and my major.  I ended up completing undergrad at Columbia College in the S. Loop.

[xXPanicXx]

i always see thos bunnies at the U of C. i think the ones in the pic arnt wild, but thats my opinion ^.^

[Vinnie D.]

Those pointier bunnies are probably hares which have longer faces, longer limbs and a more elongated body, and are overall larger. Rabbits, wild and domestic are shorter and have that cuter pudgieness. Those look like american cottontails, which are genuine rabbits. And as well fed as those look, they’re probably not starving abandoned bunnies.

[Author]

Messages