Rabbits vrs Hares

[coyotejoe]

Can rabbits and hares interbreed? I'm wondering because of this doe I was given. The man said she had been "free ranging" for several weeks and he just caught he up that morning and I know there are wild snowshoe hares in the area, so---? :? <br /><br /> __________ Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:29 am __________ <br /><br /> I asked Google and it referred me back here to a post dated March of 2013 where the answer was "NO, different genetics, can't happen" so I was asking in the right place anyway. topic14236.html

 

[MaggieJ]

Ha! That's cool that Google referred you back to RabbitTalk. Hares and rabbits are quite different. Rabbits are born blind and helpless whereas hares are born fully furred, eyes open, ready to run. Snowshoe rabbits are more correctly referred to as Varying Hares. Cottontails are rabbits, not hares, but they still cannot interbreed successfully with domestic rabbits, which are the descendants of the European wild rabbit, a different species.

Lots of myths still floating around. We have a friend who still believes in cabbits - rabbits crossed with cats. :shock:

 

[Zass]

I've seen a few rabbits someone was positive were 1/2 cottontail because they were born outside to a escapee doe. They had recessive self, and chocolate coat color and one even had a rex coat.
All those genes require two carriers to produce, and it's totally impossible out of wild cottontails since they simply don't carry all those genes.

Rabbits hopping loose do seem to get pregnant a lot, but the offspring inevitably resemble their domestic counterparts.
It really shouldn't be surprising that rabbits given freedom will frequently find other rabbits of their species to mate with. These things have been recorded breeding through cage wire, after all!

 

[akane]

Domestic rabbits can't mix with anything except domestic rabbits and the wild european rabbits they descended from. Although european rabbits can get bred by snowshoe hairs. The fertilized eggs just don't survive.

Lepus americanus [Snowshoe Hare]
× Oryctolagus cuniculus [European Rabbit] CHR. The ranges of these animals were originally disjunct, but O. cuniculus is now feral in the range of L. americanus. High rates of fertilization occur in rabbits inseminated with hare semen, but less than 10% of hare oocytes are fertilized with rabbit semen. The fertilized ova apparently all degenerate. Allen and Short 1997 (p. 38); Chang 1965a; Chang and Hancock 1967; Chang et al. 1964, 1969.???
× Lepus europaeus [European Hare] See review in Chang and Hancock 1967.???

*Wanders off to look up lagomorph species hybrids and gets distracted checking if it's possible to buy pikas"

 

[MamaSheepdog]

*Wanders off to look up lagomorph species hybrids and gets distracted checking if it's possible to buy pikas"

:lol: You would.

 

[akane]

Sadly pikas are extremely temp sensitive and changes in climate are rapidly killing them off. Some are managing to go higher in the mountains but some groups have gotten stuck and are dying. They also do horrible with the stress of moving from the wild so only a handful of places have captive ones and the farthest they have been bred is 3 generations from wild. They may go extinct before anyone domesticates enough of them.

 

[SilverDesertRabbitry]

Ha! That's cool that Google referred you back to RabbitTalk. Hares and rabbits are quite different. Rabbits are born blind and helpless whereas hares are born fully furred, eyes open, ready to run. Snowshoe rabbits are more correctly referred to as Varying Hares. Cottontails are rabbits, not hares, but they still cannot interbreed successfully with domestic rabbits, which are the descendants of the European wild rabbit, a different species.

Lots of myths still floating around. We have a friend who still believes in cabbits - rabbits crossed with cats. :shock:

Rabbits crossed with cats? How does that work? Lol

 

[ladysown]

squabbit anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4WWaY7s3Y

 

[Sagebrush]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Dood]

Jackalope!!!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope

 

[user 3309]

Scrolled down that wiki to find this:

Rabbit with Shope papillomavirus infection

 

[MaggieJ]

Rabbits crossed with cats? How does that work? Lol

Well it doesn't work, of course. But somehow the myth is out there and some people are gullible enough to believe it.

http://messybeast.com/cabbit.htm

 

[Homer]

... We have a friend who still believes in cabbits - rabbits crossed with cats. :shock:

What?! You mean it isn't true? Just looked a few things up and I can't understand why you don't believe. :roll: I mean after all, if it's on the internet it must be true right?

...and one of my favorites :x

 

[Zass]

I'll take a flock of those Rabbucks please!

 

[Homer]

I'm sorry Zass. I'm sold out right now except my breeding stock. Next litter is all yours when they're weaned and it looks like it won't be too long.--> :rabbit-hop3: :rabbit-hop2: :feed-ducks: :lilbunny: :lilbunny: :lilbunny: