Is it possible for a rabbit and squirrel to mate?

Question

There's this thing running around my yard that I can't identify. It's gray, is slightly smaller than a squirrel, has a squirrel body and face, but a rabbit tail, and hops like a rabbit. Weirdest thing, I'm tellin ya! Anyone have any ideas what this is? I've scoured the internet for HOURS and can't find any pictures even close to this thing, though I have seen a couple other references to a "half squirrel-half rabbit" spotted in other people's back yards on some forums. Unfortunately, they didn't describe what it looks like. Thanks for the help, all!

Answer 1

as far as i know, the answer is no.

Answer 2

Get a Have-a-heart trap and catch him/her. Might be worth a fortune to some tabloid newspaper. At least get some good pictures and come back and show us.

I got very interested in which different animals can mate and reproduce. At the time I was interested in the Liger which has a Lion father and a Tiger mother. I saw one at a zoo in Reno Nevada. Very big and very interesting animal. If you google you can see what he looks like.
Here's one link with pic:
http://www.lionlamb.us/hobbs.html

What else I learned went something like this

1. They must be in the same family: IE A dog can mate with a coyote or wolf but could never mate with a cat.

2. The animals must be approximately the same size. IE A male donkey can cross with a female horse and produce a mule. But you could not cross a little Mexican burro with a Belgian Work horse.

3. The gestation period of the two animals must be about the same. I don't have a example of this, sorry.

To me this has always been very interesting stuff but it has been curtailed a lot recently and probably rightfully so. PT Barnum had a bunch of such animals for his circus/side show.
Most of these animals from such mixed breeding are sterile so it is kind of a waste.


EDIT ADD: I just found this and it explains everything a lot better than I did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid


Dances has probably got the right answer

Answer 3

I live in Surfside Beach and I just saw the same thing the other day crossing the street!!!! And I stopped and watched it out the window. It was a lil larger than a squirrel but I thought well its just fat and had a tail like a rabbit hopped like a rabbit too. But the face was a squirrel same color. I can't find anything and I ran across your post. Least I know Im not the only one whos seen it lol.

Answer 4

There is a member of the chinchilla family that looks like a rabbit with a squirrel tail. I don t think it s found in North america though. It s called a vizcacha. Native to Bolivia Chile argentina

Answer 5

It may be a baby chinchiila that got away from someone. They kind of look like a mix between a rabbit and a squirrel.

Answer 6

First, please don't exploit this poor animal. I'm not saying that you would, but it irks me that someone would suggest it.
Theoretically, no they wouldn't hybridize. There is a concept in ecology that "requires" similar genetic materials to be posessed by the contributors. This is actually the essence of what a species is (exclusive inter-breeding). A misconception is that while 80% of genetic material is common among rabbits and squirrels, humans and chimps, and so forth, that's a lot to be shared. However, all mammals share about 80% of genetic material with each other. So, the theory that they could hybridize based on their genetic similarity is probably not totally valid.
However, stressful conditions have shown animals to behave very strangely and "unnaturally." Given this, in this day, with immense environmental stressors (pollution, noise), species stressors (overpopulation, habitat alteration), and individual stressors (specific impacts of the previous) nothing, behaviorally, would surprise me.
While it may just be the species that someone suggested earlier.
Again, please don't exploit this animal. If you contact anyone, please contact the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Answer 7

That would look a little bit funny.. i dont think rabbits and squirrells mate, some rabbits are shaped like squirrells just smaller.. thats what it sounds like to me.

-Will

Answer 8

I'm pretty sure most likely it's a chinchilla

Answer 9

They are both rodents so definetly. But it is probably rare.

Answer 10

No; they have different numbers of chromosomes. I'm wondering if what you're seeing is an Albert's squirrel. They have long tufted ears, and are indeed gray. In Colorado, they're affectionately known as "squabbits" ;-)

If it has a short tail, there's a good possibility it was injured and lost part of its tail.

Answer 11

Take pictures! Or even better attempt to catch it! This could be a new species for all we know (doubt it though). It is probably just a deformed rabbit or something of the like.