If you’ve been within 20 feet of a big box store lately, it’s pretty obvious that Easter is just around the corner.
And because of that, you’ve likely encountered one of the most mind-boggling hoaxes you can imagine — and it has to do with (of all things) carrots and rabbits.
Bunnies and Carrots Myth
There’s a good chance you’ve seen chocolate bunnies, stuffed rabbits, or even greeting cards with cartoon bunnies munching carrots, but a video by author Jason K. Largan circulating on social media explains that this isn’t even true.
The Whole ‘Rabbits Love Carrots’ Thing Is a Total Lie
In addition to rabbits loving Trix, it’s been a staple of modern lore that they love a good carrot. In fact, if you had a pet rabbit as a kid (or many, as is bound to happen) you probably fed your cute bunnikins a healthy supply of carrots. Turns out, according to Vets Now, carrots are terrible for rabbits — they’re high in sugar and can actually be harmful to their health. They don’t even eat them in the wild.
What?!
Enter Bugs Bunny: The Real Reason This Myth Exists
So why do we all think that rabbits love carrots? You can thank everyone’s favorite wisecracking, fast-talking, and totally unflappable animated “wascally wabbit” — Bugs Bunny.
In the 1941 short ‘The Wabbit Who Came to Supper,’ Bugs Bunny sings ‘Oh carrots are divine, you get a dozen for a dime, it’s magic.’
You probably assumed that Bugs Bunny always loved carrots.
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You wouldn’t see him without one in his hand, while asking, “What’s up, Doc?” with his mouth full. But get this: he wasn’t eating because he liked them. He was making fun of a scene from 1934’s It Happened One Night, a phenomenally popular film that came out prior to the launch of Bugs Bunny’s character in the Merrie Melodies shorts. In the scene, legendary actor Clark Gable stands by a fence and exaggeratedly eats a carrot while having a conversation with co-star Claudette Colbert’s character.
You can watch the “carrot chomping” scene from It Happened One Night below:
How influential was this movie and Clark Gable’s character? So influential that animators used the gag as inspiration for Bugs Bunny’s speech style — and his iconic devotion to carrots.
And here’s where it gets really strange: while Gable’s character influenced Bugs Bunny, the popularity of Bugs Bunny ended up shaping how the world sees rabbits, even though the whole rabbit-and-carrot thing is total fiction. Even today, it’s hard to imagine an Easter Bunny or cartoon rabbit on a greeting card not holding a carrot.
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Every Easter, we are reminded there’s no good way to dress up a human to look like a bunny that people would allow in their homes while their children are asleep.
Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll
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