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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

JAN EDWARDS: What is it?

The other day Jan asked:

"What is this animal? It has long back legs. It has a white mark on its head. It has a light-coloured tummy. It has a dark patch under each eye. It’s just over a week old and its eyes are just starting to open".

It is a wild European rabbit. The dark patch under the eyes and the white patch on the head are common variants, just mentioned to throw folks off their guard. It is just over a week old, and it (and 4 other siblings) are being fostered by a domestic rabbit with 5 babies of her own, which are the same age.

1 comment:

Retrieverman said...

I didn't know that European rabbits had the white spot on their heads when they get their first coat of fur.

I've seen many, many Eastern cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) of that age, and they have all had a white mark on their heads. Although in very young rabbits, it's almost like a collie's blaze.

These are cottontails of the same age: http://volunteersforwildlife.org/i/ect-still-need-help-big.jpg

Eastern cottontails, unlike European rabbits, don't dig warrens. They give birth in hedgerows and brush piles. They are born hairless, and their first coat is black-- with that white blaze.

http://www.allcreaturesgreatandsmall.org/images/Cottontail%20in%20hand.jpg

I've handreared a few of these rabbits. However, it illegal to rehab wildlife in my state-- so I was a scofflaw. (The state has a law that requires a permit, but the state agency that gives permits won't give you one). My sister and I had one that became quite wild even after being handreared. He got loose in the basement, and we couldn't catch him. So we left the door open one evening, and he had his "born free" moment.