Nuclear Earless bunny - symbol of nuclear plant disaster Japan

[RamboLiberal]

An earless bunny has become the new face of the nuclear concerns in Japan.

The bunny was born near the severely damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in - and it has locals wondering if this is just the beginning of the side effects from the nuclear disaster, AOL News reported.

A video of the bunny was posted to YouTube - and it quickly exploded in the blogosphere as the "nuclear rabbit."

Scientists have debated about the effect that radiation has on animals since the leak began following a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/06/09/2011-06-09_earless_bunny_raises_fear_of_effects_of_nuclear_plant_disaster_in_fukushima_japa.html#ixzz1Op6sOHLW

[malaise]

1. Oh my

And the worst is yet to come

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. The nuclear rabbit, a product of our nuclear habit.... crap. n/t

[ChrisBorg]

3. University of Miami biologist Dana Krempels, an expert on rabbits,

"There are many different reasons a rabbit may be born this way or acquire this characteristic early on, not least of which is a stressed mother rabbit who overgrooms her babies to the point of mutilation. This is the most common reason we see baby bunnies with missing ears or limbs. So while it's possible that the earless condition of this baby is congenital (i.e., bun was born with it), it's also possible that it was acquired after birth.

"I have to wonder whether there are any other bunnies in the group that have anomalies like that. I didn't see any. And that would make me very hesitant to cry 'Radiation!' just because one baby bunny is missing his external ear pinnae.

"I can't tell from the video whether the bunny has ear canals covered by the fur. If not, that would tell us that this isn't a result of a mother's overgrooming, but rather some kind of birth defect. Whether it's due to radiation or some other factor is not possible to say, since these types of malformations do occasionally occur in the absence of known mutagens."

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/09/6821742-nuclear-bunny-thats-too-big-a-leap

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Meet Vincent van Gogh, the earless bunny

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/455093-heard-about-the-earless-bunny

As MSNBC points out, you can't tie a single earless rabbit to a radiation mutation - it can be an accident caused by the mother: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/09/6821742-nuclear-bunny-thats-too-big-a-leap

[jberryhill]

7. A Dutch Blue, no less /nt

[Canuckistanian]

5. Oh, stop it

Earless rabbits are a normal recessive trait. Like people with six fingers.

Rare. But not THAT rare.

[leveymg]

6. The nuclear grotesqueries, a la Chernobyl, will appear. Not so cute.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. awwww

[TheWraith]

9. This has been determined to be a hoax.

Earless rabbits are a recessive gene, like albinism in people. Not radiation related.