S6 E4: Little Bunny Foo Foo: The Story of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus

Rabbits, hares and pikas belong to a family of animals called “Lagomorphs” or order Lagomorpha. Rabbits and hares belong to the family Leporidae and pikas belong to the family Ochotonidae. While rabbits and hares have long ears, a short tail and very strong hind limbs that give them that characteristic bounding motion, pikas are smaller, have shorter, rounded ears, no external tail to speak of and smaller hind limbs that give them more of a scampering motion. Lagomorphs are small to medium-sized herbivores that tend to live underground. At one time, they were included in the Order Rodentia since both orders possess a set of incisors that grow throughout their lives. However, lagomorphs also have a second pair of incisors that are set directly behind the growing pair in the upper jaw. This trait is specific to lagomorphs. Now, thanks to species gene coding, we know that these two orders have very distinct and separate evolutionary histories. Rabbits are an important part of the ecosystems that they inhabit. Without them, many prey animals wouldn’t survive. This disease could kill off a necessary food source for coyotes, hawks, eagles, bears and other prey animals. You can reach me on the website at www.causeofdeath100secs.net or you can email me at Jackie@causeofdeath100secs.net. My Link Tree can be found at: https://linktr.ee/CauseofDeathpod Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Show Notes: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/fs-rhdv2.pdf https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-health/rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/disease/rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet/RHDV.htm https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/Programs_Services/RabbitHemorrhagicDisease.aspx https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/diseases/rabbit-hemorrhagic/ https://veterinaryresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1297-9716-43-12 https://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/rabbit_hemorrhagic_disease.pdf https://veterinaryresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13567-015-0245-5#:~:text=RHDV%20is%20a%20non%2Denveloped,capsid%20subunit%2C%20the%20VP60%20protein. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9541616/