Way to teach your kid about the circle of life. Mom's gonna eat 'em before you get back to fool around with them again. Talk about "Killed the rabbit, killed the rabbit..."
Does this guy go around breaking open eggs in birds' nests too? What a horrible lesson to teach your family and the internet world. I thought Neatorama had more sense than to post something like this.
Maybe someone should open up his nest, handle his children and hope he wouldn't notice.
Wait, they are just juvenile lagomorphs. These rodent-like animals spawn like vermin and endanger whole ecosystems. Even in their normal ecosystem, they have to be culled by predators or humans to avoid problems.
These ones are even too small to make a proper meal. And I guess they carry parasites.
I was thinking the same thing when I first saw this...that the human smell would disturb the mother. On the contrary, I just did a bunch of research and everything says this is a wives tale and that bunnies don't kill their babies due to human smells. That said, I still think it is irresponsible to disturb a wild nest.
Yeah, don't touch them or their mother will kill them! Then they won't be able to deliver their chocolate eggs to us on Easter. Just kidding. The Easter Bunny isn't real, rabbits don't lay eggs, and they don't kill their young if they smell "human smell" on them.
I've inadvertently disturbed bunny nests many times while gardening, and I've caught my kids handling babies. They always seem to survive, That is, until the neighborhood dogs catch up with them.
The mom probably will not kill them when they are that big, but I can speak from experience that they DO kill newborns if they think they are in danger (kinda backwards, but that's how they roll, I guess).
What's more likely to happen is the mother will abandon them and the nest. They might be old enough to survive, but the odds will be against them.
What kind of moron would dig up their burrow like that? Yes, there are cute little baby bunnies in there, how about leaving them alone! Maybe keep an eye out for them when they venture out on their own instead of digging them out.
It depends… If they're anything like mice, my mice have destroyed (eaten) a litter for no apparent reason. I've witnessed a mother mouse cannibalize an entire litter just because she was disturbed, by putting more food in her house… I've also handled minute old babies and helped with the birth, when the mother couldn't handle the process and nothing happened to the babies, they lived long lives. I think it depends on experience, age, stress and genetics of the doe.
Granted, I probably wouldn't disturb a wild nest of bunnies just for shits and giggles… but I think usually a mother will cannibalize their young for more reasons other than only human intervention.
Yeah, am just glad that this guy does not live near my friends (I hope)who have a lake in their backyard. They were treated to a female turtle that came close to their house and laid eggs in the ground. This guy would probably be trying to put the hatchlings back in their shells!
Nicole: The mother will not abandon them because of this. Also, ostriches don't really bury their heads in the sand, and cats don't really suck the breath out of sleeping children.
This is a horrible way to teach your children about nature, I hope that this man never takes his kids to Yellowstone or he'll be encouraging them to go see how hot the water is.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/babybird.asp This applies to birds, bunnies too? So stop freaking out. The nest looks pretty much the same after they touched it. It's not like they stole them for pets or anything.
In my youth, I recall passing by a fellow student (probably 2'nd grade or so) who was smashing bird eggs through a face of tears. I asked him what was was going on and he told me another kid had picked up the eggs and they had people scent on them, and HE was smashing the eggs (thinking he was being humane, and saving the embryos some suffrage) because the mom bird wouldn't come back, and leaving them would be cruel.
Those babies will probably be fine. They're much older than I've ever known a doe to eat her babies. That being said, momma bunny's going to know someone screwed with the nest, and it may panic her. Bad form, whoever that was. Bad form. That was just /mean/.
According to Scientific American, mother rabbits have a higher propensity than other animals to abandon disturbed nests Not that it will necessarily happen but why take that chance? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-birds-abandon-young-at-human-touch
Maybe someone should open up his nest, handle his children and hope he wouldn't notice.
Wait, they are just juvenile lagomorphs. These rodent-like animals spawn like vermin and endanger whole ecosystems. Even in their normal ecosystem, they have to be culled by predators or humans to avoid problems.
These ones are even too small to make a proper meal. And I guess they carry parasites.
What's more likely to happen is the mother will abandon them and the nest. They might be old enough to survive, but the odds will be against them.
Granted, I probably wouldn't disturb a wild nest of bunnies just for shits and giggles… but I think usually a mother will cannibalize their young for more reasons other than only human intervention.
2 cents.
This applies to birds, bunnies too?
So stop freaking out. The nest looks pretty much the same after they touched it. It's not like they stole them for pets or anything.
He's not harming these rabbits at all. He is showing his kids the wonders of nature and how to respect it by, you know, actually going outside.
@ Knothead - He is showing the wonders of nature and how to repect it by tearing up a burrow? How is that being respectful?
Kinda moronic, now that I see 7anya's snope link.
I've heard of universal suffrage, but letting bird eggs vote is going too far.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-birds-abandon-young-at-human-touch