{"id":100220,"date":"2025-08-27T06:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/100220\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T06:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:49:06","slug":"wild-rabbits-in-us-show-startling-tentacle-growths-on-their-heads-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/100220\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Rabbits in US Show Startling ‘Tentacle’ Growths on Their Heads : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild rabbits in Colorado have been discovered with concerning horn-like growths protruding from their heads, startling people<\/a> on social media. <\/p>\n

Thankfully the condition poses no threat<\/a> to humans and other animals, with recent sightings<\/a> also having been reported in Minnesota and Nebraska.<\/p>\n

The bunnies’ ‘horns’ are a symptom of the Shope papilloma virus<\/a>, which spreads through the bites of mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. This means it’s more common in the warmer months, explaining the current increase in observations.<\/p>\n

Related: Wild Pigs Turn ‘Neon Blue’ in California, Triggering Warnings<\/a><\/p>\n

The virus<\/a> itself was discovered in 1933 by Richard Shope, though it’s likely its bizarre effects have been inspiring accounts of the mythical jackalope<\/a> for centuries.<\/p>\n

“It’s been around forever, it’s a virus, it’s nothing new and it’s being sensationalized because people are seeing what it can do to wild rabbits,” veterinarian Laurie Hess told<\/a> Jackson Walker at Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

“These rabbits look freakish but usually these [growths] are benign things, sometimes they will kind of fall off and go away.”<\/p>\n

The growths \u2013 called papillomas \u2013 are wart-like growths on the rabbit’s skin made of keratin; a protein also found in our hair and nails.<\/p>\n

Just as the related human papillomavirus<\/a> can cause cancer<\/a> in people, the Shope papilloma can develop into cancerous growths in rabbits. The disease is more likely to become malignant in domestic rabbits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Usually, the animals recover from the virus and the ‘horns’ fall off. Growths that interfere with the animal’s senses, like near its eyes<\/a> or mouth<\/a>, can cause potentially deadly problems, however, like preventing the animal from eating.<\/p>\n

\"HistoricPlate XLVII of Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra) by Joris Hoefnagel, 1575, showing a mythical “horned hare” or jackalope. (Public Domain<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Studying the Shope papilloma virus in rabbits revealed the connection between viruses and cancer<\/a>. This eventually led to the development of the HPV vaccine, which has been highly successful<\/a> in reducing cervical and oral cancer<\/a> in humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wild rabbits in Colorado have been discovered with concerning horn-like growths protruding from their heads, startling people on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-100220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}