Since the Easter Bunny is (cover your ears, kids) the fake part of Easter, it is only fitting to come up with a few bunny jokes this morning. There’s something inherently funny about rabbits.  In the Easter tradition they have come to represent fertility, the abundance of Spring, and the abundance of extra body fat caused by eating Cadbury Eggs (which come from rabbits, if you didn’t know).  

  I spotted two Easter Bunnies cavorting about on the lawn this chilly morning.  Actually they were Cottontail Rabbits – our local wild rabbits -but, since it is Easter and they were rabbits, they were true Easter Bunnies.

  These wild bunnies were engaged in a courtship dance.  You don’t often see this kind of behavior in the light of day. Normally they perform under the cover of night and spend their days sitting tight (or laying chocolate eggs).  To better observe such a unique pair of rabbits, unique up on them to watch (unique up on tame rabbits the tame way). Unobserved, I approached within a hare’s breadth and watched the show.  

  The male, or buck as he is known, and the female (doe) face off about 3 feet from each other. The buck rushes at the doe and she leaps high into the air as he passes underneath.  He also leaps at this point and they both spin in midair – landing face to face. 

He moves in again and again they leap and spin simultaneously.  Each jump is a vertical hop clearing two feet of air space. After a few more aerial displays a brief chase ensues and they resume the dance.

  The doe approaches the buck after a few minutes and bats him with her front paws. He jumps, she jumps and on the dance goes.  This went on for about three minutes and ended in an energetic session of grass eating.  She eventually hopped off into the brush and he, determined, yet casual, did the receding hare routine.  I lost sight of them as the yard experienced hare loss. Calculator-type behavior usually ensues after such behavior, so maybe it was best that I didn’t pry anymore. The rabbit dancing season runs from February through September, so there is plenty of opportunity for you to witness this affair.

   History doesn’t record whether Ray Anthony was inspired by the Cottontail Love Dance when he wrote the “Bunny Hop” in 1953.  He penned the words “Put your right foot forward – put your left foot out -Do the Bunny Hop -Hop, hop, hop.” and created a dance sensation.  He went on to write “Dance this new creation – it’s the new sensation,” but in this he was mistaken.  The Bunny Hop is an ancient tradition among the long-eared clan.  It flared in popularity among humans but soon went on down the bunny trail. The flip side of the “Bunny Hop” single was a little thing called the “Hokey-Pokey,” by the way. Now, that’s what it’s all about.

  Oh, in case you didn’t get the connection between the third joke of the initial stand-up routine and bunnies, that’s the final verse of Anthony’s “Bunny Hop.”