Today, in perfectly normal news, rabbits with tentacle-like growths on their heads have been spotted in Colorado, and the photos are going viral.
A Reddit post sharing the images quickly racked up over 5,000 comments. As one top comment put it, “No no no no no. No Eldritch Bunnies, thank you very much.”
But, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, it’s not dangerous to humans. The department told Coloradoan that the growths on the rabbits’ heads are caused by a virus, rabbit papilloma. The virus, which is spread by infected mosquitoes and ticks and contact between rabbits, causes these tumors to grow on the animals’ heads.
If you’re thinking you’ve heard the word “papilloma” somewhere before, you probably have. The rabbit version of the virus is a distant relative of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause warts or even cancer in homo sapiens.
It’s also theorized that sightings of the jackalope cryptid (a legendary rabbit with horns growing out of its head) are likely just encounters with infected rabbits. The more you know!
They look gnarly, but Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said that the growths don’t negatively affect the animals unless they reach a point where they obstruct vision or interfere with their ability to eat. In some cases, after the rabbit clears the virus, the growths will go away without any lasting effects.
The virus isn’t known to be contagious to humans, but wildlife experts still recommend steering clear of infected animals, and be sure to keep them away from your pets as well.
So, though they may look scary:
I, for one, hope all the bunnies get well soon!