What's Up, Doc? The Evolution of Rabbits, Hares and Pikas

Please enjoy this examination of the cute, colorful Lagomorphs and their evolutionary history.
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[@ArsonFire00]

One species of Pika not mentioned here is a rare species from Japan, able to generate and discharge an electrical shock. much in the way an electric eel can. Known locally in Japan as the Pika-Chu....

[@dr.polaris6423]

Seems like there should be some connection there as both are cute rodent-like creatures.

[@dougi1967]

Cute!

[@bhuggins6059]

Completely forgotten........smh

[@jeremybds1901]

NOOOOOOOOOOO0OOOOOO

[@bhuggins6059]

@@jeremybds1901 yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee3eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss2sssssss

[@dr.polaris6423]

Shhh, be very, very quiet! I'm covering wabbits. Hahahaha! Sorry for the late post everyone, life got in the way. Hope you enjoy.

[@greenkoopa]

Could you cover Rabbids next video?

[@generaldissatisfaction5397]

Great choice for a topic. I would love a deep dive into the desmostylians, if you are looking for more impressive extinct beasts to cover. Thanks for all your informative videos!

[@_robustus_]

I find sources that simply refer to lagomorphs and rodents as glires. The clade gliriforms to me would mean glires + something else, although I can’t seem to find what that would be unless it’s the scandentia due to some need to not classify them as archonta (and also ditch euarchontaglires as well). What’s a nerd to do???

[@john-ic5pz]

youuuuu pesky Powawis!!! 🤭🤍

[@Svensk7119]

I knew you took that left tuwrn at Alburquerque!

[@BorderWise12]

As someone from NZ, it blows my mind that European rabbits are ENDANGERED in their native ranges. I'm so used to thinking of them as an unstoppable pest species. 🤯 Thanks for the video, I always did want to know more about how lagomorphs fit into evolutionary history. 😁

[@colehalford1893]

This is similar to a species of Pythons that are becoming extinct in their native homeland of India.

[@andyjay729]

Also starlings are endangered in Europe, but they were introduced to North America and have become a major invasive pest here, often crowding out native species.

[@Hollylivengood]

Well, they taste great, so have at 'em. I could stand rabbit everyday.

[@rl9217]

10:54 “And here we see the largest and most impressive member of the family, the aptly named Big Chungus.” “That’s not what it’s called.” “Well it is now.”

[@Zveebo]

I had no idea the European Rabbit was a human-introduced species in the UK! They seem like such a core part of the fauna. I see quite a few of them where I am, so hopefully they are doing okay…

[@dr.polaris6423]

I also assumed that they must be doing fine in the wild but studies have shown that their numbers are falling quite rapidly.

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@dr.polaris6423 their numbers are declining due to myxomatosis a man made disease. They are starting to show an immunity to it now though and are steadily recovering

[@theaveragecomment1014]

@@theotheseaeagle oh thank god

[@singlespeedpunk7744]

Myxi hasn’t been a major issue in the UK for a couple of decades at least. Used to find a myxi bunny most months on walks, never seen one since the late 90s / early 2000s

[@KBird-flylow]

​@@dr.polaris6423 "Bunny Ebola" (rabbit hemorrhagic fever) is doing an unknown amount of damage to the North American lagomorphs. Those of us with pet Bunnies have had to get them vaccinated to fend it off

[@MuffinHop]

Thank you, finally someone making a detailed video on lagomorphs. I’ve been waiting for a video like this for so long.

[@greenkoopa]

I love KZbin. Film criticism, gaming history, space science and military history. You're a very welcome and important part of my info intake. Thank you Dr Polaris 🐢

[@vladimirlagos2688]

It is heartbreaking to learn that even the quintessential fast breeder of lore is not being able to keep up their numbers against our destructive actions.

[@Sirdilophosaurusthethird2.0]

W h a t s u p d o c

[@aceundead4750]

Wabbit season

[@tobiasedwards2643]

@@aceundead4750 Duck season

[@Autistic-Noice-Panda-2023]

@@tobiasedwards2643wabbit season

[@jessepitt]

Shhhhhh.

[@SonicSanctuary]

What's cookin'

[@cgyoboi]

Always a good day when our favorite polar bear doctor uploads

[@arnaldorentes5371]

Que linda surpresa! Fecho perfeito, para um domingo de sol. Saudações do Brasil e GRATO, Professor!

[@brianedwards7142]

In the beginning all the animals looked the same but Frith went round giving them individual characteristics. When he came to El'ahrairah he hid in a hole so that only his back and hindquarters were visible so Frith gave him long legs to run and long ears to hear his many enemies and a cottontail and said that henceforth El'ahrairah's children would dig in the ground to hide from their enemies. El'ahrairah means "prince with a thousand enemies".

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

That reminds me of how the Bible's ✝ literal reading has God 🤖 creating humans with the masculine personality for both sexes, but then deciding on making women later for... reasons.

[@iapetusmccool]

_All the world shall be your enemy, Prince With A Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you they shall kill you . But first they must catch you._

[@AnnaMarianne]

​@@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_CyavanaNo... In Genesis, God creates first Adam, and after succesfully making Adam realize that he is lonely on his own, God creates Eve as well. As was God's intention all along, but He wanted Adam to want a mate before introducing him to one. Sometimes people get confused by the way Biblical narration first mentions a topic in brief, and then later returns to it in more detail. They imagine it's two different events, when it's one event told two times over.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

The Bible ✝ begins with God creating unnamed humans. Then a second event has Adam and Eve being created. The events are incompatible with each other anyway. @@AnnaMarianne

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

That Condylarth video sounds really amazing. I do hope you address one thing, that being why in certain cases polyphyletic groups when they are redefined remain in a more natural form while other groups are just completely abandoned.

[@0MetallicaManX0]

This is easily the most adorable episode yet! :P

[@randombunnyflop641]

Thanks you for this! I always like to know more about lagomorphs. It's harder find some evolution info about smaller creatures than some big ones, so happy to see this episode. (Also, loved that Watership down got mentioned.)

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

I love the title It's interesting how they were able to coexist with rodents but Multiberculates couldn't

[@dr.polaris6423]

Yeah the ecological relationship between Rodents and Multituberculates is still not well understood, with the decline of the former beginning before Glires started diversifying in the Late Paleocene. Perhaps Multies couldn’t adapt as well to larger mammalian predators or ecological changes? We still don’t really know.

[@aceundead4750]

​@@dr.polaris6423 one might say they were ratted out. Im now thinking of a multituberculate saying "i smell a rat" while in a mafia style meeting

[@chiaroscuroamore]

Lagomorphs are fascinating!!

[@ekszentrik]

Just a short amusing/saddening story from my childhood: there was a pen of rabbits in our neighbourhood, seemingly emotionally "neglecting" them (it didn't belong to an obvious owner, if it was attached to a house we would have thought differently). So we broke in and saved a big black rabbit. Then we just dumped the rabbit, kinda, in a little patch of greenery in front of one our buildings. The rabbit stayed there, confused. When we came back a day later, the rabbit was half-eaten. We speculated a weasel or even a fox must have gotten it. So stupid.

[@aceundead4750]

Smoked rabbit oddly enough tastes like smoked squirrel, at least where i live. There's issues to eating either though; rabbit'll make ya jumpy while squirrel will make you nuts.

[@HogBurger]

Clever joke. Take my like!

[@Galaxia7]

14:16 so that's what we see all around our neighborhood in the summer, cottontails! There's so many of them and they just chill in the grass of people's front yard. Until they see us/dogs and then they run away so fast! So cute. ❤

[@joeshmoe8345]

Love it, thanks Doctor P

[@jaredthehawk3870]

In the United States cottontails have adapted surprisingly well to urban and suburban environments and are an incredibly common site. Also of note is the Jimmy Carter killer rabbit incident where a swimming swamp rabbit tried to forcibly board the former president's canoe to attack him.

[@jonnygonehawking380]

good to carry a few carrots, just in case

[@theglanconer6463]

Enjoyed this one very much. Finally some (palaeontological) love for the Lagomorphs. Thank you !

[@Venator1230]

Fascinating, this makes me appreciate my chinchillas all the more.

[@colehalford1893]

That’s cool. Never knew this about Rabbits. Thanks Dr. Polaris. Also, I still love your intro song 🎵. Could easily listen to it for 5 minutes

[@pokeylope6108]

Intro before the polar bear with hat? Or the song that plays for.the first 2 minutes? If the second it's from world of warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King Expansion. The zone is Sholazar Basin. It's a lush tropical crater/Basin on a continent(Northrend) that is mostly an icy wasteland. So it's super out of place and was a beautiful surprise when walking into it for the first time. There is a Boreal forest called Grizzly Hills and a grassy Fjord area, but not tropical lol.

[@brianedwards7142]

As an Aussie vegan I like the idea of shipping our rabbits back to Europe alive. It's been a fantasy of mine for years.

[@pptemplar5840]

well, to be fair, even if you shipped them out as long as you had a few breeding pair the population would just explode again. Aussie having a reputation for everything alive being dangerous, and then being overrun by a small prey mammal going extinct in other parts of the world would probably be funny if you could ignore the damage.

[@brianedwards7142]

@@pptemplar5840 People always say that but our largest "native" land predator is a small dog, sure, dangerous especially in numbers but hardly a tiger or a bear. Crocs and sharks you can avoid by staying out of the water but other parts of the world have those too. A Brown Snake isn't much worse than a cottonmouth and redback spiders share a recent common ancestor with black widows. It's the heat and the dry that'll kill you. Rabbits are sensitive to heat but underground it's the same comfy temperature all the time. As cats and foxes have decimated the small native animals rabbits have replaced them in the diet of the Wedge Tailed Eagle becoming a staple.

[@pptemplar5840]

@@brianedwards7142 Yeah, it's just the public perception combined with island ecosystem, at first I was confused by the idea because "Well, Australia has a lot of snakes." but rabbits are quick and snakes have low metabolism so it would take a TON of snakes to actually keep the rabbit population in check, so maybe an absence of large/medium land predators is enough for rabbits to get out of control. I'm sure birds prey on them but I don't really know much about austrailian birds, only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Budgie and that's clearly not going to help.

[@brianedwards7142]

@@pptemplar5840 lol. Budgies can bite hard!

[@grecomnn]

Oh wow, the condylarths! Looking forward to it

[@DanytalyJosephine]

Love the watership down reference art the end!

[@darrenheideman2546]

When I saw this, I wondered if this was planned for the Year of the Rabbit.

[@madsgrams2069]

"-Duck season! -Wabbit season!" Fun fact: Bugs Bunny was actually a gray hare, not a rabbit at all, another proof that Elmer was a very bad hunter. 😂😂😂

[@Solomon0424]

There is no proof that Bugs was a hare.

[@madsgrams2069]

@@Solomon0424 Except for all the hare puns in the titles of the various episodes, as well as in many of the episodes themselves. There's also the way he was drawn...

[@klasa3gplaterka5]

You are one of the best paleo enthusiast on the yt. Thank You kindly for yet another fascinating episode

[@kennyhagan5781]

2023 is the year of the black rabbit in Asian astrology. I am surprised that more videos relevant to rabbits are not to be found. I think that it is a fascinating subject, but then again, I like rabbits.

[@aldenconsolver3428]

Thank you doctor. I did not know that the Lagomorphs had so many species or had numerous species in trouble. These are pivotal species, if you want wolves and foxes and raptors then you have to protect the rabbits. At least out here in the upper Midwest of the USA the rabbits are doing pretty well for now. But it is time to keep watch.

[@anotherwesley7661]

Thank you for making this! I've always been a little miffed by the lack of good scientific material on lagomorphs available; it's quite sad! I suspect that the idea of rabbits being common and ubiquitous has led to them being a little bit ignored as a serious and interesting topic, to the point where really crucial basic information about them is relatively unknown (like the fact that the European rabbit is endangered in its original range, or the fact that North American cottontails are a completely separate species from their burrowing European cousins, etc.). This was such a cool dive into paleo rabbits and their ancestors; it's amazing how those rare South East Asian rabbits look so ancient and basal, like they're living fossils. Sad we don't have capybara-sized island bunnies anymore, but I suppose the capybara itself is a pretty good substitute even if its a rodent. I hope this video finds many people and sparks more in-depth interest, if only selfishly so I can learn more. :) Best wishes and regards from the land of the smallest and very endangered Colombia Basin Pygmy Rabbit! (...poor little guys have really been hit hard lately in recent years because of increased fires).

[@iksarguards]

Answering a lot of questions RE Lagomorphs and Rodents that I've carried around with me for years. Nuralagus is fossil record evidence of Big Chungus

[@GreasusGoldtooth]

This was a fascinating video. I hope you'll consider making videos on smaller animals again in the future. The evolutionary history of foxes and mustelids is pretty interesting.

[@YaBoiDREX]

I never knew Hares and Rabbits where different. Thought they were too names for the same thing. Great video!

[@Rosie--]

Yesss!! I dont think theres much media explaning the evolution of rabbits, this is exciting. Btw i love your content polaris ty for what you do :]

[@mikeyb4610]

Great presentation…I’ve learned more about these amazing mammals in less than 20 minutes than a whole series of National Geographic!…I’m now enlightened, educated and eager to learn more from Dr. Polaris…. Thank you for creating & sharing 🐇#Lagomorpha

[@dynojackal1911]

This video's got me thinking about Dougal Dixon's "After Man" and its rabbucks, and also its predator rats. A return to your Alter-Earth series videos, please.

[@justskip4595]

European rabbit is called Kaniini in Finnish and for years when I was child I was very used when in English people referred to dogs as Canines. Still to this day I always think of rabbits first when I hear that.

[@memofromessex]

One of the terrible things I heard was that a Kent farmer found his rabbits were dying at an especially high-rate. DEFRA (Department for Farming...) discovered that it was from a very virulent form of myxomatosis. This news spread and many farmers turned up requesting that they'd get one of the rabbits to help it spread further and faster through the UK. (I think I heard this on a BBC podcast)

[@ZaedaXobu]

I have 3 swamp rabbits that live in the woods behind my house. I see them almost every morning and evening nibbling on the grass in my backyard. They're so used to me and my dog coming out they barely stop their munching lol. I can even greet and chat with them while the dog does his business.

[@AlbertaGeek]

"'Mornin', Sam." "'Mornin', Ralph."

[@rafaelcalderabebber1198]

And all are really cute, love them!

[@patriciareid437]

It's great fun to watch the pikas on Pike's peak in Colorado.

[@johnkelly7757]

Fascinating video.

[@erichtomanek4739]

Just wait for the Rabbucks!

[@HandsomeLad69]

Great vid!

[@laurachapple6795]

This video unlocked a memory of reading about pikas in 'Owl' magazine when I was very young. I was vaguely aware that they were a thing but I had no idea they were related to rabbits.

[@jredmane]

Mimotona is so cute!

[@BrokenBluebird6]

So far a great vid. I do have an off topic question though, why is there a video about Toucan Sam in the "Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life" playlist? 😅

[@gravel9270]

Nuralagus is basically a real life Big Chungus.

[@The_PokeSaurus]

"If they catch you they will kill you, but first they must catch you."

[@gabrielecavaleri7525]

If I remember correctly the Sardinian Pika survived even longer until the 18th century on a small island not far of the coast of Sardinia

[@cro-magnoncarol4017]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up the fact our Domestic Rabbits are just a sub population of European Rabbits making them the most successful & widespread living species of lagomorph.

[@VegetaRabbit]

In my state, we are trying to revive a population of one of the cutest rabbits. The last male purebred Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, found only in the Columbia Basin of Washington state, died in 2006, at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. The last purebred female died in 2008. A crossbreeding program conducted by the Oregon Zoo, Washington State University, and Northwest Trek is attempting to preserve the genetic line by breeding surviving females with the Idaho pygmy rabbit and reintroducing them into the basin.

[@t-r-e-x452]

ok with the first half of the title I have to ask this: Top 10 favorite bugs bunny cartoons. And I mean classics from the 40s, 50s, & 60s. If you can't list 10, list any. For me, the top two are the one where bugs impersonates leopold (that's the one where I imitated being a conductor from) From Heir to Hare (no matter how many times I watch this one it always makes me laugh XD)

[@Kitsaplorax]

I'm looking forward to your waste basket category video.

[@sagittariusneptune9330]

Good video for the year of the rabbit.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

🥰😍😍😍🥰 I love waste basket 🗑 taxons. They are so derpy and adorable.

[@daniele.3361]

Interesting! Rabbits are wonderful animals!!

[@pokeylope6108]

Nice choice of Sholazar Basin music from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King :)

[@godzillaprime2]

Love the title

[@erinaltstadt4234]

Thank you

[@timothyhemeon6606]

Dope

[@luutas]

I was asking myself where did I know his voice from... It's just Ross Geller, from Friends 😂

[@tinygrim]

👍👍 favorite animal.... Thank you 💗 incredible animals. 😊

[@fredhrodrigues9019]

Nice

[@maozilla9149]

nice video

[@NodokenStar-k917]

All the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you. Digger, listener, runner. Prince with a swift warning. Be cunning, be full of tricks and your people will never be destroyed - Lord Frith, Watership Down

[@zandergonzalez5190]

Ehh munches* what’s up dr Polaris

[@sciencegeekgrandpa8]

Wonderful! Speaking of glires that don't hibernate, are there enough fossils of voles to trace their evolution?

[@oatcakebabydaddy-dx4lw]

This guy is really cool.

[@universodolucas6023]

I have 3 of them

[@costrio]

I wonder if the large, hare type of ears could pick up the sound of a hawk's feathers before it dives and give it an early warning system.

[@hailgiratinathetruegod7564]

I remeber reading that Lagomorphs possibily evolving first on India as it was still a isolated island hontinent, and later spreading to the asian mainland

[@cro-magnoncarol4017]

To be fair, "Hare" refers to all members of the genus Lepus while "Rabbit" refers to all genera outside of that genus. So by all taxonomic rules Hares are a type of Rabbit.

[@cro-magnoncarol4017]

@@indyreno2933 But does that really make a Hare any less of a Rabbit? For example, both Humans & Chimps are part of the tribe Hominini does that make us any less Apes? Not really

[@HogBurger]

@@cro-magnoncarol4017 ignore this Indy Reno guy. I’ve seen them on lots of animal related videos, usually spreading outdated or outright false information.

[@HogBurger]

@@indyreno2933 Lots of the stuff I’ve seen you churn out is false.

[@charlesjmouse]

Very good, thank you. Here's a random thought: We know Thylacines must be extinct as rabbits would likely make ideal prey - why haven't they 'bounced back' when Australia and Tasmania have such a rabbit problem?

[@tyto5146]

aye lets go watership down art at the end

[@dinohall2595]

A video on rabbits in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. How appropriate.

[@mistingwolf]

"Wastebasket nightmare" animal g roup? I am intrigued!

[@Sazoji]

pika are pretty big in the US, as/bigger than a guinea pig, they're more vocal and social than the wild rabbits

[@tyrannotherium7873]

I’m thinking that, even though I’m not an artist, I should make a rabbit that’s the size of a cow kind of like one of those future animal documentaries like the future is wild. I don’t know what it would be called. The cow rabbit or something

[@TheFoshaMan]

16:05 And the smaller... AMONGUS?!?!?!? 😧😧

[@FreedomAnderson]

He said Indian Mongoose.

[@TheFoshaMan]

@@FreedomAnderson buh :c

[@redkoopa6709]

Really Love the video learned some new stuff! My family has several pet rabbits and found extinct lagomorphs interesting! I hope no more meet the same fate since fatal disease RDVH2 is decimating populations of wild and domestic lagomorphs in Eurasia and Australia for decadea and recently spread to North America a few years ago. We lost 2 buns to it. :( The pygmy rabbit alone has lost almost 50% of their populations in most areas since 2020 from the disease. Pikas, hares and other lagomorphs are all effected by it.

[@jonnygonehawking380]

RHDV2 pretty much wiped out the jackrabbits in the mojave desert a couple of years ago

[@artiefufkin88]

That was great. Please do rodents soon! Your channel is awesome!

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

I'm curious about a snipet that another channel mentioned that North America has primates and they died out, could you or have you discussed this before? That has perplexed me since South America has them and there's no record of them in the USA/North America section.

[@jakejake708]

What's up with yard grass? How'd it come to be?

[@LittleRabbit1138]

Pygmy Rabbit... Yeah, I'm an avid rabbit hunter it Wyoming and see them quite often Kinda sad that the cottontails, snowshoes, and jackrabbits do so well while the riparian oriented pygmy rabbits struggle Hopefully we can help. In my area we've done a lot to restore wetlands and riparian habits, but it's only a small step.

[@robmcelwee389]

I had a pet breed of the domestic rabbit called a French Lop that was over a meter long and weighed almost 20lbs. But that is small compared to Continental breed that is much bigger.

[@rumbleroller2154]

(11:06) So THATS where Big Chungus comes from... :3

[@VexxThePrecursor07]

Omfg it is

[@edwinreveron870]

Can you please make a video of the evolution of Panthera palaeosinensis, into Panthera blytheae, snow leopards, Panthera zdanskyi, and tigers...

[@Shastasnow]

Love bunnies ❤🐰

[@elizabethpruett2642]

4:54 omg it looks like a dog and a squirrel had babies

[@frosttheicefloeturtle8143]

Dr Polaris, what is the song in ur intro

[@EduardQualls]

@1:05 "incisors adapted for _nor-ing"_ I didn't know that rabbits could do Boolean computer operations using their teeth! Of course, there's still the question, "Why Was The March Hare So Important To The Aztecs?" [ kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6mYqWhqbruVaKc&pp=ygUWYXp0ZWNzIHdvcnNoaXAgcmFiYml0cw%3D%3D ]

[@shibolinemress8913]

18:07 Is that the Black Rabbit of Inlé from Watership Down?

[@Vadjong]

You need 'Watership Down' in your life. I will pray you'll find your burrow safely.

[@edwinreveron870]

Please make a video of Panthera Shawi, and their evolution into common leopards, Mosbach lions, today's lions, cave lions, American lions, and jaguars..

[@nowistime8070]

what's up with that squirrels man package at the start of video ?