Hopping down the bunny trail

It’s a busy time of year for Peter Cottontail, aka the Easter Bunny, but we caught up with him this week to ask a few questions about his legacy as a symbol of spring.

We were going to say this was the second installment in a series of rodent interviews, following our Groundhog Day chat with Magnus the marmot (bit.ly/magnusmarmot). But Mr. Cottontail quickly corrected us: Rabbits are lagomorphs, the taxonomic order that also includes hares and pikas.

You’re likely to see mountain cottontails, which inhabit our area of north central Idaho an d southeastern Washington, in brushy, rocky areas of dense sagebrush or along streams or forest edges. It’s no surprise the Easter Bunny has all those eggs hidden before the kids wake up, as mountain cottontails are crepuscular, meaning they’re often active in the early morning (and late afternoon).

That’s according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which shared more excellent information about these rabbits in its February 2018 Wildlife Express newsletter at bit.ly/idfgcottontails.

Inland 360: As Easter approaches, can we assume your biggest concerns are whether your jelly bean supplies are adequate and where best to hide your signature colorful eggs?

Peter Cottontail: You’d think so, but there are bigger issues facing rabbits — and other wildlife — this time of year. We’re coming into the season when well-meaning humans find baby animals in the wild and assume they need help. Please follow the advice of the knowledgeable folks at the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Pullman, bit.ly/WSUrescue, and resist the urge to “rescue” animals you find.

Baby rabbits (and deer and birds) that appear to be abandoned usually are fine, with mom returning occasionally to feed them. If you find an animal that’s clearly injured, contact a rehabilitator, such as Palouse Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation (palousewildlife.org). You can find a list of options at bit.ly/wdfwrehab.

360: Whew. Here we were dreaming about chocolate bunnies, and now we’re thinking about the real ones out there in the wild. But speaking of chocolate rabbits, where did that tradition come from?

PC: I’m going to admit I had to Google this. You think rabbits came up with chocolate rabbits? That’s a people thing. But it’s pretty interesting: According to multiple search results, including this piece at allrecipes.com/article/chocolate-easter-bunny-history, the chocolate bunny dates back to late-1800s Germany, quickly taking hold in the U.S. after a Pennsylvania drug store owner displayed a 5-foot-tall chocolate rabbit in his shop in 1890.

360: Why a rabbit at all?

PC: That same allrecipes.com article explains the answers are murky. It’s possible the hare was associated with a Germanic Pagan goddess, Eostre, who was celebrated in early spring. Hares also showed up in medieval Christian art, apparently because of a belief, dating to the ancient Greeks, that rabbits reproduce without mating — representing the virgin birth. Whether that inspired the Easter-rabbit connection, I couldn’t tell you, but I can assure you rabbits don’t spontaneously get pregnant.

I also learned that eggs, another common Easter symbol often rendered in chocolate, may have come to be associated with Easter because some Christians abstained from them during Lent, so consuming them on the holiday was a treat, even before they were chocolate.

360: What about your name, Peter Cottontail? Where did that come from?

PC: The Library of Congress shared an excellent blog post about this in its Folklife Today American Folklife Center & Veterans History Project, at bit.ly/LOCcottontail. In it, Stephen Winick traces the origins of my name to authors Beatrix Potter (“The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” 1901) and Thornton W. Burgess (“The Adventures of Peter Cottontail,” 1917), who wrote about Peter Rabbit.

It wasn’t until later, Winick writes, that Peter Cottontail and the Easter Bunny were sort of merged into one character in the song “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins in 1949. The song hit No. 3 on the Billboard country charts and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 when Gene Autry recorded it in 1950.

360: It sounds like Easter lore is a rabbit hole we could go down all day, but we’ll let you get back to your preparations for Sunday. One last question: Peeps or no Peeps?

PC: I’ll stick to grasses, sagebrush and the occasional juniper berry, but I’m all for it if people want to eat Peeps instead of chocolate rabbits. Thinking about people gnawing the ears off chocolate bunnies gives me the willies.