Horned Rabbits? Here's the Weird but True Story
The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns.
Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including 'Frankenstein bunnies,' 'demon rabbits' and 'zombie rabbits.' But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fueling scientific research nearly 100 years ago.
The virus likely influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations. The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists' knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.
The virus in rabbits was named after Dr. Richard E Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.
The virus in rabbits was named after Dr. Richard E Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.
News about the rabbit sightings in Fort Collins, 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Denver, started getting attention after residents started spotting them around town and posting pictures.
Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency has been getting calls about the rabbits seen in Fort Collins.
But she said that it's not uncommon to see infected rabbits, especially in the summer, when the fleas and ticks that spread the virus are most active. The virus can spread from rabbit to rabbit but not to other species, including humans and pets, she said.
The growths resemble warts but can look like horns if they grow longer, Van Hoose said. The growths don't harm rabbits unless they grow on their eyes or mouths and interfere with eating. Rabbits' immune systems are able to fight the virus and, once they do, the growths will disappear, she said.
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Horned Rabbits? Here's the Weird but True Story
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Skeletal Children in Gaza Contradict Netanyahu's ‘No Starvation' Stance
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Any improvement is also threatened by a planned new Israeli offensive that Netanyahu says will capture Gaza City and the tent camps where most of the territory's population is located. That will prompt a huge new wave of displacement and disrupt food delivery, U.N. and aid officials warn. Preexisting conditions The Gaza Health Ministry says 42 children died of malnutrition-related causes since July 1, along with 129 adults. It says 106 children have died of malnutrition during the entire war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and its figures on casualties are seen by the U.N. and other experts as the most reliable. The Israeli military Tuesday pointed to the fact that some children who died had preexisting conditions, arguing their deaths were 'unrelated to their nutritional status.' It said a review by its experts had concluded there are 'no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon' in Gaza. At his press briefing Sunday, Netanyahu spoke in front of a screen reading 'Fake Starving Children' over photos of skeletal children with preexisting conditions. He accused Hamas of starving the remaining Israeli hostages and repeated claims the militant group is diverting large amounts of aid, a claim the U.N. denies. Doctors in Gaza acknowledge that some of those dying or starving have chronic conditions, including cerebral palsy, rickets or genetic disorders, some of which make children more vulnerable to malnutrition. However, those conditions are manageable when food and proper medical treatments are available, they say. 'The worsening shortages of food led to these cases' swift deterioration,' said Dr. Yasser Abu Ghali, head of Nasser's pediatrics unit. 'Malnutrition was the main factor in their deaths.' Of 13 emaciated children whose cases the AP has seen since late July, five had no preexisting conditions — including three who died — according to doctors. Abu Ghali spoke next to the body of Jamal al-Najjar, a 5-year-old who died Tuesday of malnutrition and was born with rickets, which hinders the ability to metabolize vitamins, weakening bones. In the past months, the boy's weight fell from 16 kilograms to 7 (35 pounds to 15), said his father, Fadi al-Najjar, whose lean face showed his own hunger. Asked about Netanyahu's claim there was no hunger in Gaza, he pointed at Jamal's protruding rib cage. 'Of course there's famine,' he said. 'Does a 5-year-old child's chest normally come to look like this?' Skin and bones Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, Nasser's general director of pediatrics, said the facility receives 10-20 children with severe malnutrition a day, and the numbers are rising. On Sunday, a severely malnourished 2-year-old, Shamm Qudeih, cried in pain in her hospital bed. Her arms, legs and ribs were skeletal, her belly inflated. 'She has lost all fat and muscle,' al-Farra said. She weighed 4 kilograms (9 pounds), a third of a 2-year-old's normal weight. Doctors suspect Shamm suffers from a rare genetic condition called glycogen storage disease, which changes how the body uses and stores glycogen, a form of sugar, and can impact muscle and bone development. But they can't test for it in Gaza, al-Farra said. Normally, the condition can be managed through a high-carbohydrate diet. Her family applied a year ago for medical evacuation, joining a list of thousands the WHO says need urgent treatment abroad. For months, Israel slowed evacuations to a near standstill or halted them for long stretches. But it appears to be stepping up permissions, with more than 60 allowed to leave in the first week of August, according to the U.N. Permission for Shamm to leave Gaza finally came this week, and on Wednesday, she was heading to a hospital in Italy. A child died in her family's tent Ro'a was one of four dead children who suffered from malnutrition brought to Nasser over the course of just over two weeks, doctors say. Her mother, Fatma Mashi, said she first noticed Ro'a losing weight last year, but she thought it was because she was teething. When she took Ro'a to Nasser Hospital in October, the child was severely malnourished, according to al-Farra, who said Ro'a had no preexisting conditions. At the time, in the last months of 2024, Israel had reduced aid entry to some of the lowest levels of the war. The family was also displaced multiple times by Israeli military operations. Each move interrupted Ro'a's treatment as it took time to find a clinic to get nutritional supplements, Mashi said. The family was reduced to one meal a day — often boiled macaroni — but 'whatever she ate, it didn't change anything in her,' Mashi said. Two weeks ago, they moved into the tent camps of Muwasi on Gaza's southern coast. Ro'a's decline accelerated. 'I could tell it was only a matter of two or three more days,' Mashi said in the family's tent Friday, the day after she had died. Mashi and her husband Amin both looked gaunt, their cheeks and eyes hollow. Their five surviving children – including a baby born this year -- are thin, but not nearly as emaciated as Ro'a. DeWaal said it's not unusual in famines for one family member to be far worse than others. 'Most often it will be a kid who is 18 months or 2 years' who is most vulnerable, he said, while older siblings are 'more robust.' But any number of things can set one child into a spiral of malnutrition, such as an infection or troubles after weaning. 'A very small thing can push them over.'
