the.com/cottontail rabbit
Nature's panic button, wearing a tiny white flag of surrender on its butt.
means A small, fast-breeding American wild rabbit, named for the puffball of white fur under its tail that flashes like a signal when it flees.
from Straightforwardly descriptive English: 'cotton' for the fluffy white tuft of the tail, 'tail' for where it sits, and 'rabbit' from Middle English/Old French roots referring to the young of the hare-like animal before it came to mean the species generally. No hidden story here — the name is just an honest report of what you see as the animal bounds away from you.
- flash signal
- flashes white tail to confuse chasing predators mid-sprint
- not a burrower
- unlike hares, nests in shallow scrapes, not tunnels
- short brutal life
- most die within their first year, breeding fast to compensate
- top speed
- can hit 18 mph zigzagging to dodge foxes