Here are the Heloise and Abelard of lagomorphs, as described in The Dodo and the video below. A wild rabbit came by and was apparently smitten by a pet bunny named Pep. Sadly, the amorous coupling was not to be—foiled by a screen door. (The Dodo notes that wild rabbits can’t successfully breed with domesticated ones, but I’m not sure about that.)
The YouTube notes say that the video is from May 8, 2012:
Unusually warm day so I had the sliding door open while working on our kitchen remodel. Parked in front of the door is where Pep spends 90% of her time.
The wild rabbits were out and about, chasing each other because it’s mating time, when this one decided that he fancied Pep and wanted in.
It’s very sad.
Ah, unrequited love. My eyes are welling up with tears and my heart is bleeding. 🙂
I big cotton tails and I can not lie. The other bunnies can deny……
Reminds me of the wonderful “Esterhazy: The Rabbit Prince.”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9702768-3-4
That was so sad!
Bit of an age mismatch there, I’d suspect. Possibly too much of a mismatch.
Not to mention the fact that Miss City-Style Bunny is no doubt far too high maintenance for Yokel Bunny. Outta yer league, country boy, keep on a-movin’…
Hmmm, projection?
I’ve always wondered if any young children were traumatized by Sam Neill’s conversation with Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October:
Sam Neill: “I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits…”
(Aww… he wants to raise cute little bunny rabbits!)
“… and she will cook them for me.”
(Nooooo!)
Always loved that conversation, even as a kid. Did a great job of showing in just a couple minutes why these guys would risk everything to defect.
Oh, no, poor bunnies. They look so vexed and unsettled and clearly want to be in the same space. I would have been tempted to let the wild bunny in.
It is a tale as old as time.
Two lovers. Two worlds.
Him: wild, untamed, fighting for his very survival. Her: the princess of her world, pampered with everything her heart could desire.
Almost everything.
Passion drove them to be together. The world conspired to keep them apart.
Two lovers. Two worlds. A great divide. A screen door.
What was the name of that song…
Here comes Peter Cotton Tail
Just as a dog can breed with a wolf, a domestic rabbit and a wild rabbit can breed-
Probably doesn’t happen that often, but it can.
The cotton tail and the domestic (european) rabbit are supposedly genetically isolated and cannot breed. But those wild rabbits may be feral european rabbits, in which case they will most certainly breed. I guess they could open the screen door and find out.
Hopefully, the domestic rabbit is fixed…if she isn’t, she will develop uterine cancer within 3 years. The tumors start growing.
Wild rabbits continually breed, so don’t have that issue.
Very sad. Made me cry. It’s sad that Pep sits there at the door most of the time too, all alone, watching the other bunnies, obviously wanting to go out.
Watching the video, she is such a tease! And I guess in his eyes, so exotic.
Country rabbit’s thinking this is the most beautiful rabbit I’ve ever seen – so stunningly marked.
City rabbit’s thinking this it the most beautiful rabbit I’ve ever seen – not all splotchy like me.
It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
Sub
Domestic rabbits are a European species (Oryctolagus cuniculus), while the wild rabbit shown is a species of cottontail (Sylvilagus— there are several species). It is unlikely they could successfully breed with one another. Introduced cottontails have become established in several places in Europe, but I don’t know of any hybrids. (It’s about as likely as a Pan-Homo hybrid.)
Possibly a Pan-Homo hybrid would be viable; however, no one feels like trying :-).
Reminds me of an old Phil Harris song about a housecat:
Reminds me of Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini’s great little stoner-and-mobster pas de deux scene together through the screen door in True Romance.
Surely they aren’t that far from each other Genetically that they can’t mate.?
The interesting thing about “natural selection” is that animals have idiosyncratic preferences in mates and food supply, to the extent that we ascribe intentionality and purpose to the animal’s behavior (the bunny “fall in love” with another bunny, wants to be with the other bunny). This is not necessarily lethal to naturalism (if we believe naturalists can provide a satisfactory account of intentionality) but it means the intentionality problem goes much deeper than simply human language and human agency.
Quick! Email Pixar!
Heloise and Abelard had a long passionate affair and even had a son named Astrolabe, born in 1118 and died as Abbott of Hauterive somewhere around 1171, so I don’t quite get the reference. After they got caught, Abelard’s punishment was castration, and Heloise retreated to a convent for her safety.
Perhaps Tristan and Iseult would be a better analogy, although they too ended up having sex.