Is Bugs Bunny a Rabbit or a Hare?

Bunnies and hares have a number of distinct traits -- as does Bugs himself. Learn whether he leans rabbit or hare in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/bugs-bunny-rabbit-or-hare.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, let's talk today about Bugs Bunny.
Although a Bugs esque character appeared in the cartoon in
Night Bugs as would recognize him today, first appeared on
July nine and a cartoon titled a Wild Hair. His

(00:26):
character was well received by children and adults alike. This
and the fact that his debut coincided with America's Golden
Age of animation helped secure his spot as one of
Warner Brothers main cartoon characters. During World War Two, Bugs
got another boost the several Air Force troops, including the
three eightieth Bombardment Group, shows Bugs as their mascot, and

(00:50):
the Marine Corps designated him an honorary Master Sergeant. He
starred in propaganda cartoons made specifically for American soldiers stationed
in Europe, as well as government and advertisements for wartime bonds.
Bugs Bunny went on to star in a hundred and
fifty films, appear as the first animated character on a
postage stamp, receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,

(01:11):
and be ranked number one on a list of the
fifty Greatest cartoon characters. Compiled by TV Guide. Although many
have attempted to identify what sets Bugs Bunny apart from
the cartoon crowd, perhaps the late Chuck Jones, the longtime
writer and producer of Bugs Bunny, described it best. His
daughter Linda Jones Cloud told Smithsonian Magazine, and my father's

(01:35):
attitude was that bugs already existed and they were just
writing about him. He would come home in the evening
and say to my mother, you won't believe what Bugs
Bunny said today. What do you mean? She would say,
you wrote it. No. I discovered under the circumstances that
this is what he would say. Whether Bugs Bunny was
conceived as a rabbit or a hare isn't clear. Although

(01:57):
the word bunny is part of his name, many of
his cart UNEs had hair in the title, including a
bill of hair and fallen hair. Of course, that could
be wordplay rather than scientific nomenclature. Before we hop to
the wrong conclusion, let's take a look at some of
the characteristic differences between rabbits and hairs. Although rabbits and

(02:18):
hairs are all from the lapoor dae family, they're classified
under nine different genera, eight for rabbits and one for hairs.
And fifty three species, twenty one for rabbits and thirty
two for hairs, and they start life in markedly different ways.
Hairs are pregnant for about forty two days and deliver
fully developed newborns called leverettes, while bunnies have a thirty

(02:42):
day gestational period and give birth to kits that don't
yet have for or the ability to regulate their body temperature.
Hairs also have jointed skulls, unlike those of any other mammal.
This gives them cranial kinesis, which means that their skull
bones can move relative to each other in ways that humans,
for example, can't. Our jaw is our only movable skull joint.

(03:06):
Hairs have an intracranial one that researchers think helps them
distribute the impact of long running leaps. Hairs have longer
ears and longer legs than rabbits, which seems to tip
the scale in favor of bugs. Bunny being a hair,
hairs look lanky in ways that rabbits, with their shorter
ears and shorter legs, just don't. Also, hairs are more

(03:30):
likely to be gray in color, though hairs and rabbits
both come in a range of colors and patterns from
white to brown to black, with lots of gradients in between.
Hairs are also less social than bunnies. Hairs don't hang
out with their families, and by all accounts, neither does bugs.
But hairs live completely above ground, whereas bugs, bunny lives

(03:51):
in a burrow like a rabbit that most bunnies create
burrows or warrens in which they live and hide their young.
There is one thing that could clear all this up,
DNA analysis. Rabbits have forty four chromosomes, while members of
the hair genus have so analyss of bugs Bunny, a
genetic material would wrap this up once and for all,

(04:14):
except that he's not real. So maybe instead of splitting
hairs over taxonomy, we should all just relax with a
character free and enjoy some classic cartoons. Today's episode is
based on the article is bugs, Bunny, a rabbit or
a hair? On how stuff Works dot Com? Written by

(04:35):
lore L Dove. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart
Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and
it is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my
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