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From NewsOK.com:
File photo: jackalope
From NewsOK.com:
Sun February 18, 2007
Bony rabbit revives jackalope legend
Science: Malady causes horn growth
Bunny had ailment related to the virus that causes genital warts.
Rabbit that was found with growths out of its head. PHOTO PROVIDED BY JULIA HOWELL
By Beth Gollob
Staff Writer
HOOKER — A rabbit with horns may sound like a taxidermist's joke, but a woman from Hooker wasn't laughing when her grandson brought her what looked like the mythical cross between a rabbit and an antelope.
Four years ago, Julia Howell, 77, was given a dead rabbit covered with no fewer than seven horn-like growths. It was among cottontails her grandson had harvested from her rural property, and what she called the strangest thing she's ever seen.
"He came up with this thing and said, ‘Oh, Grandma, you'll never believe what I shot,'” Howell said. "It was such a shock, you know, you never see anything like it. Those (horns) were as hard as calcium.”
The rabbit likely had been suffering from a disease related to the virus that causes cervical cancer in humans.
A real jackalope?
A virus common among wild rabbits and hares could be responsible for horns like the ones Howell saw, said Chuck Holliday, a biologist at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
At least a decade ago, Holliday began researching a pop culture legend about jackalopes after seeing some Web sites about the purported cross.
"If you went out and saw 100 rabbits, you might not see one with the virus, but they're relatively common,” Holliday said, "but it's sort of a self-limiting thing because sick animals tend to hide.”
Jackalopes have been a longstanding joke among taxidermists who attach antelope horns to jackrabbit mounts, said Micah Holmes, spokesman for the state Wildlife Conservation Department.
He hadn't heard of any hunters or game wardens who have seen an actual horned rabbit in Oklahoma.
"I must admit, this is a new one to me,” he said.
According to legend, a jackalope can imitate a human voice, is readily lured with a bottle of whiskey and is rare because it only mates during lightning storms. In some parts of the United States, jackalope hunts are used to dupe gullible people, much like snipe hunts, Holliday said.
The myth is fairly old, he added. As early as the 1500s, horned rabbits and hares were referenced in European art, literature and scientific manuals. The nonexistent animal even was given a scientific name — Lepus cornutus, or "horned rabbit.” But there's a likely reason behind the myth, Holliday said. During his research with scientist Dan Japuntich of Minneapolis, Japuntich learned of a common virus that causes rabbits to grow giant warts similar to horns. Made of hardened keratin, the main ingredient of fingernails and hair, the warts are similar to rhino horns.
Shope papillomavirus, which affects only rabbits and hares, first was isolated in the early 1930s by virologist Robert Shope. The virus is reasonably common among wild rabbits, Holliday said.
Though the virus isn't unusual, many Oklahomans likely haven't seen rabbits like this, said Mike Shaw, wildlife research supervisor with the state Wildlife Conservation Department. He said he's never seen a rabbit with Shope papillomavirus, but has heard about it.
"Animals generally hide or are run off by the rest of the group when they're sick or diseased. That would make something like this a rare thing to see,” Shaw said.
More than just warts
Biting insects such as ticks and mosquitoes are likely the foremost carrier of the Shope virus, which can cause skin cancer in about 25 percent of infected rabbits, said Denver Marlow, director of animal resources and university attending veterinarian with Oklahoma State University.
"Historically in the 1930s to 1940s, this was known to cause cancerous growths in rabbits,” Marlow said. "This was the first known source of a cancer-causing virus in mammals.”
That knowledge was used in early research for a vaccine for cervical cancer, which is caused by human papillomavirus, or HPV, Marlow said. The disease is of the same family as Shope.
HPV, which sometimes causes genital warts, is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States and a chief cause of cervical cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no known cure, and some people never show symptoms despite infection.
The Shope virus can be deadly to rabbits, Holliday said. Most don't live long enough to get cancer since warts prevent infected rabbits from eating.
File photo: jackalope
