The tick-borne virus that makes rabbits grow horns
Residents of Fort Collins, Colorado, have been spotting wild rabbits with grotesque, horn-like growths sprouting from their heads. It turns out that the rabbits are infected with Shope papillomavirus, a disease spread by fleas and ticks.
The virus causes wart-like tumors that can grow dramatically on a rabbit’s face and head, sometimes resembling antlers. While the appearance is alarming, the virus is mostly harmless to the rabbits, unless the growths interfere with eating or vision.
In most cases, the rabbits’ immune systems fight off the infection naturally, and the growths eventually disappear.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the virus can spread between rabbits but does not infect humans or pets.
SOURCE: NBC News
Image credit: WD45, licensed under , via Wikimedia Commons.
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