urbpan: (marmot)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2007-08-23 09:45 pm

Daily Zoo Animal: #14, Eastern Cottontail


Eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridianus

Every zoo has animals that come in from the surrounding city or countryside. They aren't caged, they simply take advantage of the protection and resources (food, water, shelter) that a zoo provides. At San Francisco Zoo I noticed the gulls; at Honolulu it was black-crowned night-herons. Zoos worldwide have rats and mice, house sparrows and starlings, pigeons and mallards. At Franklin Park Zoo there are cottontails. The native rabbit of the east coast of North America can be seen furtively chewing clover in a yard in front of an exhibit building, or lounging under the knotweed, much more confident than a country rabbit that worries about dogs and other troubles.

The eastern cottontail was featured in the 365 urban species project.

On this day in 365 urban species: cucumbertree.

[identity profile] mas69ter.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
One of the fun animal stories I got to hear when I worked in merchandise at the Toledo Zoo involved rabbits. The cheetahs at the zoo were getting old and I believe blind as well. So, the rabbits and squirrels took advantage of this by hanging out in their valley 'cause the cheetahs didn't notice them there. Then, the zoo got a litter of young cheetahs and when they were put in Cheetah Valley, the rodents thought they were the old ones and continued to play there. Until the youngins saw them and hunted them for some free range meal times. Apparently they learned pretty quick that Cheetah Valley was no longer a safe place to be.
I pretty much only remember this story because I love cheetahs. I only wish I would have been visiting the zoo to see them in action going after the squirrels and rabbits. Would have been exciting to see the cheetahs running at close to top speeds in person and all.

[identity profile] gemfyre.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
Perth Zoo habours a population of Brush-tailed Possums which are the cause of much dissent between the African and Australian sections of the zoo. The possums like to eat the food of the African ungulates (even dying in the food bins), but the Australian section will not allowed them to be killed or poisoned or anything useful.

There is also a feral population of Five-lined Palm Squirrels. Rumour has it that if you can catch one of the squirrels it's yours. I've found the squeak of an Audubon Bird Caller really gets their attention.

[identity profile] bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 09:10 am (UTC)(link)
Aw how cute...when I worked at the Oregon Zoo, we had a few rabbits running around and at one point some cats...we had to trap those though...:P

[identity profile] lakidaa.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
All we have are bees at my zoo :(

Lots of bees :(

[identity profile] lakidaa.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Quite.

His story got posted to scans_daily.

[identity profile] drhoz.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
yup, that's where I heard about him too :)

[identity profile] lakidaa.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah :3

[identity profile] drhoz.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
here in Perth the zoo is infested with squirrels. The only place in Australia that does have feral squirrels, as far as i know.
frith: (horse)

[personal profile] frith 2007-08-24 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
We have cottontail rabbits, woodchucks, red squirrels and grey squirrels. Assiniboine Park zoo has loads of gophers! Some had big black numbers painted on their backs.

[identity profile] interfecta.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
But you could have captioned this photo, "Laser-Guided Jackelope"... !

[identity profile] matthewdh.livejournal.com 2007-08-24 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I see those around the Harvard Business School campus all the time. Even the baby ones are fearless.

"Laser"-Eyed Jackelope?

[identity profile] ogrrrl.livejournal.com 2007-09-05 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with interfecta on this one...We have both house cats and pet bunnies roaming our neighborhood. I can usually tell which is which when I drive through because the cat's eyes shine green/blue and the bunnies are red. Have you ever made a personal study of this phenomenon? The cartoons always depict animals in the night forest with yellow eyes. But I'd probably flip if i saw that! ~Comette.

crystals in the tapetum lucidum

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-09-05 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't studied it too closely. I found some interesting discussion of it here: http://www.rain.org/~mkummel/stumpers/20oct00a.html

Including this bit: Why do different animals' eyes appear different colors at night? One source explains that the perceived color is due to the exact configuration of the riboflavin (or guanine?) crystals that make up the tapetum lucidum, and that the reflection shifts the frequency of the reflected light towards the yellow-green, where animal eyes are most sensitive.