Latest news with #AmandaGilbert
The Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
‘Zombie' rabbits with black horns and mouth tentacles are invading Colorado backyards
What the heck is that?! Rabbits in Colorado are causing alarm among residents and looking more like creatures from nightmares and not fuzzy and cuddly friends. Rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, are being spotted with eerie black-colored growths resembling tentacles or horns protruding from their heads. 9NEWS Northern Colorado reporter Amanda Gilbert captured a photo of one not-so-cute rabbit with the growth on its head, which resident Susan Mansfield said looked like 'black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth.' 'I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew,' Mansfield added. Photos of another rabbit, whose growths have almost completely covered its face, have also gone viral on Reddit. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have identified the cause as shope papillomavirus, a rabbit-only virus with no cure that produces wart-like tumours known as papillomas, particularly around the face and head of cottontail rabbits, 9NEWS reports. The virus only spreads among rabbits, primarily by biting insects like fleas and ticks during warmer months. A relative of human papillomavirus, SPV is not harmful to humans, pets or other wildlife, and usually doesn't hurt the rabbit unless it affects the eyes or mouth, officials said. Officials advise residents to avoid approaching or touching affected rabbits. Most wild rabbits manage well, as the growths often disappear on their own. The rabbits' eerie look has gone viral, with comparisons to ' zombies,' 'aliens, and 'Frankenstein bunnies.' Their antler-like growths may have inspired the North American jackalope legend, some researchers and folklorists say. 'Wow, I kinda feel bad for them,' one person commented on an Instagram post of the affected animals. 'One time I need this to be AI,' another joked. 'Zombies are on the rise,' someone else added on Facebook. 'The rabbit escaped from 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail,'' another person referenced the cult-classic movie's killer rabbit.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Zombie' rabbits with black horns and mouth tentacles are invading Colorado backyards
What the heck is that?! Rabbits in Colorado are causing alarm among residents and looking more like creatures from nightmares and not fuzzy and cuddly friends. Rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, are being spotted with eerie black-colored growths resembling tentacles or horns protruding from their heads. 9NEWS Northern Colorado reporter Amanda Gilbert captured a photo of one not-so-cute rabbit with the growth on its head, which resident Susan Mansfield said looked like 'black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth.' 'I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew,' Mansfield added. Photos of another rabbit, whose growths have almost completely covered its face, have also gone viral on Reddit. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have identified the cause as shope papillomavirus, a rabbit-only virus with no cure that produces wart-like tumours known as papillomas, particularly around the face and head of cottontail rabbits, 9NEWS reports. The virus only spreads among rabbits, primarily by biting insects like fleas and ticks during warmer months. A relative of human papillomavirus, SPV is not harmful to humans, pets or other wildlife, and usually doesn't hurt the rabbit unless it affects the eyes or mouth, officials said. Officials advise residents to avoid approaching or touching affected rabbits. Most wild rabbits manage well, as the growths often disappear on their own. The rabbits' eerie look has gone viral, with comparisons to 'zombies,' 'aliens, and 'Frankenstein bunnies.' Their antler-like growths may have inspired the North American jackalope legend, some researchers and folklorists say. 'Wow, I kinda feel bad for them,' one person commented on an Instagram post of the affected animals. 'One time I need this to be AI,' another joked. 'Zombies are on the rise,' someone else added on Facebook. 'The rabbit escaped from 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail,'' another person referenced the cult-classic movie's killer rabbit.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Zombie' rabbits with black horns and mouth tentacles are invading Colorado backyards
What the heck is that?! Rabbits in Colorado are causing alarm among residents and looking more like creatures from nightmares and not fuzzy and cuddly friends. Rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, are being spotted with eerie black-colored growths resembling tentacles or horns protruding from their heads. 9NEWS Northern Colorado reporter Amanda Gilbert captured a photo of one not-so-cute rabbit with the growth on its head, which resident Susan Mansfield said looked like 'black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth.' 'I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew,' Mansfield added. Photos of another rabbit, whose growths have almost completely covered its face, have also gone viral on Reddit. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have identified the cause as shope papillomavirus, a rabbit-only virus with no cure that produces wart-like tumours known as papillomas, particularly around the face and head of cottontail rabbits, 9NEWS reports. The virus only spreads among rabbits, primarily by biting insects like fleas and ticks during warmer months. A relative of human papillomavirus, SPV is not harmful to humans, pets or other wildlife, and usually doesn't hurt the rabbit unless it affects the eyes or mouth, officials said. Officials advise residents to avoid approaching or touching affected rabbits. Most wild rabbits manage well, as the growths often disappear on their own. The rabbits' eerie look has gone viral, with comparisons to 'zombies,' 'aliens, and 'Frankenstein bunnies.' Their antler-like growths may have inspired the North American jackalope legend, some researchers and folklorists say. 'Wow, I kinda feel bad for them,' one person commented on an Instagram post of the affected animals. 'One time I need this to be AI,' another joked. 'Zombies are on the rise,' someone else added on Facebook. 'The rabbit escaped from 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail,'' another person referenced the cult-classic movie's killer rabbit. Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Rabbits with black horns and mouth tentacles keep appearing in Colorado
What the heck is that?! Rabbits in Colorado are causing alarm among residents and looking more like creatures from nightmares and not fuzzy and cuddly friends. Rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, are being spotted with eerie black-colored growths resembling tentacles or horns protruding from their heads. 9NEWS Northern Colorado reporter Amanda Gilbert captured a photo of one not-so-cute rabbit with the growth on its head, which resident Susan Mansfield said looked like 'black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth.' 'I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew,' Mansfield added. Photos of another rabbit, whose growths have almost completely covered its face, have also gone viral on Reddit. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have identified the cause as shope papillomavirus, a rabbit-only virus with no cure that produces wart-like tumours known as papillomas, particularly around the face and head of cottontail rabbits, 9NEWS reports. The virus only spreads among rabbits, primarily by biting insects like fleas and ticks during warmer months. A relative of human papillomavirus, SPV is not harmful to humans, pets or other wildlife, and usually doesn't hurt the rabbit unless it affects the eyes or mouth, officials said. Officials advise residents to avoid approaching or touching affected rabbits. Most wild rabbits manage well, as the growths often disappear on their own. The rabbits' eerie look has gone viral, with comparisons to ' zombies,' 'aliens, and 'Frankenstein bunnies.' Their antler-like growths may have inspired the North American jackalope legend, some researchers and folklorists say. 'Wow, I kinda feel bad for them,' one person commented on an Instagram post of the affected animals. 'One time I need this to be AI,' another joked. 'Zombies are on the rise,' someone else added on Facebook. 'The rabbit escaped from 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail,'' another person referenced the cult-classic movie's killer rabbit.
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Health
- Gizmodo
Colorado Residents Are Spotting Weird-Looking Rabbits With Black Horns and Mouth Tentacles
People in Fort Collins, Colorado, are seeing rabbits with black horns and tentacles that wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie. Though frightening, their appearance is caused by a known virus that's harmless to humans. Journalist Amanda Gilbert documented the town sightings in an article for local outlet 9NEWS last Friday. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say the rabbits are afflicted with a virus that causes wart-like projections to emerge from their faces—a condition that likely even inspired folk tales in the past about horned rabbit cryptids. 'It looks like it was black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth,' Fort Collins resident Susan Mansfield told 9NEWS. 'I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew.' The rabbit germ is called the Shope papilloma virus. It's a cousin of the human papillomavirus, and like some HPV strains, SPV can trigger the formation of growths, typically made out of keratin. The virus is primarily transmitted through biting arthropod vectors, such as mosquitos and ticks, though it may also spread through close, direct contact with infected bodily fluids (the growths themselves don't carry the virus). Papillomaviruses are usually tuned very specifically to their hosts, SPV included, so they aren't a threat to people. Rabbits can live with the infection and even lose the growths over time, but SPV can also turn dangerous. The growths can become large enough to interfere with eating, and they will sometimes transform into malignant tumors that spread elsewhere in the body. Infections are rarely seen in domestic rabbits, however, and most commonly affect cottontail rabbits in the wild. The growths can look like deer antlers, and many scientists argue this uncanny resemblance helped foster the North American myth of the jackalope and similar horned rabbit creatures. As with many things, though, capitalism is also partly to blame for the cryptid's enduring popularity. In 1977, brothers Ralph and Doug Herrick claimed that they were the first to market taxidermized jackrabbits fitted with deer antlers as jackalopes in 1934. And even today, many gift shops and tourist attractions still sell these fauxalopes. SPV isn't just the inspiration behind the jackalope. Its discovery in the 1930s helped confirm that certain viruses can trigger cancer, and scientists have long used it as a model in the lab to better understand HPV-related cancers. The real-life jackalope may be harmless to people, but Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say people still should steer clear of wild rabbits infected with SPV. Indeed, we can never be too cautious.
