Yesterday as I was pulling into the driveway a flash of fur tumbled out of the bushes in front of the truck. What the he.......? It was two cottontail rabbits apparently trying to kill each other. I have never seen this behavior from these sweet little bunnies before. I mean these are the same bunnies that peacefully descend on my lawn every night at dusk to quietly nibble on the grass, and eat all my potted plants, and eat all of the wildflowers I planted and who last year ate all 33 of the sunflowers I had growing! Did I say they were sweet?

Anyway I watched the pair from my car for at least a minute. They could care less that there was a truck about to descend on them. What I noticed is that they behaved just like cats do when cats play and fight with each other. I certainly now know first hand where the term "rabbit punch" came from. Their back legs were thumping the poop out of each other as they were rolling around. They would detach and take on a defensive attack (almost like Halloween cat) pose, put their ears back, cock their heads to the side and go right for the jugular on each other. They were biting into each others bodies shaking their heads with a mouth full of flesh and fur. One tried to get away and the other just pounced on it's back and took him down by biting hard on the back of it's neck. Their mode of attack and movements were identical to what I have seen cats do. Finally they just stopped, sat back to back for a few seconds and then went off in different directions.

My conclusion is that they are really small cats in bunny suits. Probably the secret incognito intelligence division dropped by the mothership. They aren't fooling me anymore!

Copyright © Tambra Jo Gwozdz
February 8, 2001