The truth about the strange rabbit with horns like a deer

The elk rabbit, an animal that resembles a North American big-eared rabbit and has antlers of antelope or deer, is a cultural symbol of the American West.

Images of this creature appear in everything from postcards to wine glasses. But is this creature real or just a myth?

Although no such hybrid animal exists, there is an element of truth to the legend, according to Michael Branch, Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno.

 Rabbits do not naturally grow horns, but rabbit papilloma virus can cause this.

'It's a mythical creature. But it has a real relationship with the wild horned rabbit infected with the Papilloma virus. Rabbits do not naturally grow horns. But rabbit papilloma virus can cause this. Notably, Papilloma is common in many species, and each type usually infects members of a specific species, the human papilloma virus, also known as HPV,' Professor Michael Branch said.

When the rabbit Papilloma virus infects an individual, it can lead to the development of a benign tumor on their face or head and sometimes the tumor can resemble antlers or horns. Tumors made up of keratin - the protein that forms nails and hair - sometimes grow on other body parts but it is most commonly on the head. Tumors can become malignant in some cases.

However, these lumps don't always look like gauze. They are usually black and grow asymmetrically, unlike the antlers of the legendary deer-horned rabbit. 'Honestly, they look rather odd. Depending on the severity of the disease, it can look pretty terrible,' Professor Branch said.

In 1933, an American virologist named Richard Shope discovered that the rabbit Papilloma virus (scientific name soon followed by Shope Papillomavirus) caused infected rabbits to develop traits resembling horns, according to a 2015 study in the journal PLOS One.

Until that time, most scientists did not believe that the virus could cause cancer, although there is some evidence that the virus can cause cancer in birds. But the horned rabbit proved them wrong.

'That opens up a lot of research avenues to look at what other cancers can be caused by viruses and ultimately towards developing a vaccine against them. Specifically, it allows researchers to begin creating HPV vaccines, which can reduce the risk of cervical cancer and several other cancers.

Not all rabbits infected with the Papilloma virus develop horns, just as not all people infected with HPV develop cancer. But in horned rabbits, the disease is often fatal. The horns can disrupt the animal's ability to eat and they can starve to death,' Professor Branch emphasized.

Diseased horned rabbits may have inspired the legend of the moose-horned rabbit, but that is far from certain. Moose-horned rabbits descended from two brothers in Douglas, Wyoming. These boys invented the image of the deer-horned rabbit on their own.

'Right around the time the two boys were making a joke about a bogus rabbit in Wyoming when Richard Shope was at the Rockefeller Institute, for Medical Research in Princeton, New Jersey, studying horned rabbits in his room. my experiments' – Professor Michael Branch said.