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The "giant rabbit" was a cryptid reported from the Australian interior by gold prospectors, who claimed to have seen "giant rabbits nine feet long" and "twelve feet high," which were capable of vanishing at extreme speed.[1][2] The primary source for these reports, which were first mentioned by Ivan T. Sanderson, is unknown.[3][4]
According to Sanderson, the naturalist and writer Ambrose Pratt (1874 – 1944), who heard the stories, proposed the "giant rabbits" were living diprotodonts, and Bernard Heuvelmans theorised they could have been living Diprotodon or giant kangaroos, though Heuvelmans noted that their extreme speed would be unusual for Diprotodon.[1][5] Christine Janis and Karl Shuker also noted that the animals sound like giant sthenurine kangaroos, such as Procoptodon or Sthenurus.[6] These kangaroos had shorter tails, larger forearms, and possibly longer ears, which would have made them resemble giant rabbits.[3] Although sthenurine kangaroos are believed to have been too large and heavy to hop, instead walking or ambling very slowly, Janis suggests that species as large as Sthenurus stirlingi might have been able to hop in order to move quickly in an emergency. There was also a more ordinary species of giant kangaroo, Macropus titan, which is thought to have been capable of hopping.[7]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138977525
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (1995) In Search of Prehistoric Survivors: Do Giant 'Extinct' Creatures Still Exist?, Blandford, ISBN 9780713-724691
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Smith, Malcolm (2021) Bunyips and Bigfoots: Up-Dated Second Edition, ASIN B08VYDC728
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals With Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned", Cryptozoology, No. 5 (1986)
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. "A Supplement to Dr Bernard Heuvelmans' Checklist of Cryptozoological Animals," Fortean Studies, Vol. 5 (1998)
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908