Rusty said hello to Melissa

-

 On our evening walk, Melissa spotted a shape on our driveway that was gone as we approached. But then we saw Rusty. Rusty did not react to me (ever since the watering) but bounded towards Melissa when she arrived, staying a few feet away, perhaps expecting to be photographed. 

Then we backed up and walked around, and when Rusty saw Melissa, it bounded towards her again. On the way home we passed Rusty, who said hello again and then bounded away. Melissa had tears in her eyes. Is this interspecies communication? What does it mean? Rusty recognizes Melissa and may even recognize its name.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rusty said hello

-
Image
 Daily was in our yard this evening, but looking towards our neighbor's yard, which has a short iron fence. We walked to the neighbor's yard and saw Rusty. When Melissa said Rusty's name, it bounded towards us but stayed on the other side of the fence. We are delighted that silent Rusty said hello. Rusty in clover
Read more

What rabbits say without speaking

-
Image
 Rabbits do not speak to us. The rabbits that we know are wild. But they communicate without words.  When we speak to rabbits, do they understand? Interacting with a wild rabbit is not like interacting with a domesticated dog or cat. Even the least intelligent cat or dog has a toddler's language: want food, go to sleep, go away, I love you, I hate you (for 5 minutes or until the next meal), pay attention to me. Every pet owner knows that each pet is an individual. We do not own the wild rabbits but we have named some of them that we can identify as individuals. Daily Consider Daily . Daily has a favorite spot on our shaded lawn and visits it every day. We are delighted. Every morning we ask, "Is Daily there?" Daily is there. We are delighted that Daily feels safe enough to return to our lawn every day. Yesterday, Daily was on our lawn all day. Earlier in the summer, it would go somewhere cooler during the hottest part of the day (we don't know where). Yesterday was su...
Read more

Rusty the bunny

-
Over a period of days, Melissa noticed that one rabbit had a distictive rust-colored path of fur around the neck, and named it Rusty. Going back through her pictures, she found that Rusty was a baby in May, an adult in July.  At first, we thought Rusty was male, based on no information. But we noticed that Rusty was always with one or two younger bunnies, meaning that Rusty might be female.  Rusty came to trust Melissa and was patient with long periods of flash photography. Rusty would lie down and rest near her. Rusty used to rest in the daytime in the shade around our home. Until one day But one day I went to water the lawn and had to ask Rusty to stay away from the sprinkler. The hose frightened Rusty when it was moving, but not when it was still. Rusty jumped over the hose and ran away. The next day The next time that I saw Rusty, s/he ran away, possibly flicking the back of his/her legs at me (see bunny lady ):  Have you ever noticed when you put your rabbit down aft...
Read more