Still Waters Posted March 26, 2021 #1 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Selective breeding by humans has led to some incredibly odd and unfortunate pets over the years, and the sauteur d'Alfort rabbit is among the strangest of the lot. This rare breed of bunny does not hop or walk like any other rabbit or hare in existence. When the sauteur is ready to go, it kicks its hind legs into the air and bounces forward on its front paws, like a human acrobat walking on their hands. While this may seem like an amusing trait, it sadly comes with other debilitating problems too. Now, the one bunny that can't hop properly has helped us better understand the genetics of hopping in mammals. https://www.sciencealert.com/this-bunny-walks-on-its-front-paws-because-it-has-a-defect-in-a-hopping-gene 1 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorg Posted March 26, 2021 #2 Share Posted March 26, 2021 I suppose a tortoise has a chance in a race now. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted March 26, 2021 #3 Share Posted March 26, 2021 This is really another sad and selfish testimony to human arrogance to create something to appeal to human sense of 'aesthetics' which comes at the price of the animal/plants well-being. We do this repeatedly to every animal we exploit without ever giving a single thought to the repercussions of our actions. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susanc241 Posted March 27, 2021 #4 Share Posted March 27, 2021 I read the article to mean an original version of this rabbit was found in Paris in 1935, and was not deliberately bred or engineered. That they have since allowed more to be bred, especially in more recent times is perhaps not defensible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the frog Posted March 27, 2021 #5 Share Posted March 27, 2021 (edited) A lot of genetic mishaps are staying because of our stupidity... For example, that rabbit would not survive in the wild and would be culled down fast. Just don't let them reproduce. Edited March 27, 2021 by Jon the frog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallidin Posted March 27, 2021 #6 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Wow. Weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abramelin Posted March 27, 2021 #7 Share Posted March 27, 2021 19 minutes ago, pallidin said: Wow. Weird. Yeah, weird indeed. Like most of the weird news that comes to us close to the first of the next month. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jethrofloyd Posted March 28, 2021 #8 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Weird and sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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