Editing Rabbit (section)

=== Modern times ===
[[File:PeterRabbit8.jpg|left|thumb|[[Beatrix Potter]]'s [[Peter Rabbit]]]]
The rabbit as [[trickster]] is a part of American popular culture, as [[Br'er Rabbit]] (from African-American folktales<ref>{{cite book |last=M'Baye |first=Babacar |author-link=Babacar M'Baye |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkmQ2WXnkJsC |title=The Trickster Comes West: Pan-African Influence in Early Black Diasporan Narratives |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2009 |pages=13–18|isbn=978-1-60473-352-5 }}</ref> and, later, [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney animation]]<ref name="Brasch2000">{{Cite book |last=Brasch |first=Walter M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNNaAAAAMAAJ |title=Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, and the 'Cornfield Journalist': The Tale of Joel Chandler Harris |date=2000 |publisher=Mercer University Press |pages=74, 275|isbn=978-0-86554-696-7 }}</ref>) and [[Bugs Bunny]] (the [[cartoon]] character from [[Warner Bros.#Warner's cartoons|Warner Bros.]]<ref name="Adamson">{{Cite book |last=Adamson |first=Joe |url=https://archive.org/details/bugsbunnyfiftyye0000adam |title=Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare |publisher=Henry Holt |year=1990 |isbn=0-8050-1855-7 |url-access=registration}}</ref>), for example.

Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature, in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' (the [[White Rabbit]] and the [[March Hare]] characters), in ''[[List of Watership Down characters|Watership Down]]'' (including the [[Watership Down (film)|film]] and [[Watership Down (1999 TV series)|television]] adaptations), in ''[[Rabbit Hill]]'' (by [[Robert Lawson (author)|Robert Lawson]]), and in the ''[[Peter Rabbit]]'' stories (by [[Beatrix Potter]]). In the 1920s, ''[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]]'' was a popular cartoon character.<ref name="SusaninMiller2011">{{cite book |last1=Susanin |first1=Timothy S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgwbBwAAQBAJ |title=Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928 |last2=Miller |first2=Diane Disney |date=April 7, 2011 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-60473-960-2 |access-date=September 4, 2012}}</ref>

On the [[Isle of Portland]] in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky, and speaking the creature's name can cause upset among older island residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying industry, where, to save space, extracted stones that were not fit for sale were set aside in what became tall, unstable walls. The local rabbits' tendency to burrow there would weaken the walls, and their collapse would result in injuries or even death. In the local culture to this day, the rabbit (when he has to be referred to) may instead be called a "long ears" or "underground mutton" so as not to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wallace and Gromit spook island |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/4318710.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=25 August 2022 |date=7 October 2005}}</ref>

In other parts of Britain and in North America, "[[Rabbit rabbit rabbit]]" is one variant of an [[Apotropaic magic|apotropaic]] or [[talisman]]ic superstition that involves saying or repeating the word "rabbit" (or "rabbits" or "white rabbits" or some combination thereof) out loud upon waking on the first day of each month, because doing so is believed to ensure good fortune for the duration of that month.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mayntz |first=Melissa |date=2019-04-26 |title=On the 1st Of The Month Say "Rabbit Rabbit" for Good luck! |url=https://www.farmersalmanac.com/rabbit-rabbit-35150 |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=Farmers' Almanac – Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. |language=en-US}}</ref>

The "rabbit test" is a term first used in 1949 for the [[Rabbit test|Friedman test]], an early diagnostic tool for detecting a pregnancy in humans. It is a common misconception (or perhaps an [[urban legend]]) that the test-rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" becoming a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Maurice |title=The Assay of Gonadotropic Extracts in the Post-Partum Rabbit11 |date=1 May 1939 |url=https://doi.org/10.1210/endo-24-5-617 |journal=Endocrinology |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=617–625|doi=10.1210/endo-24-5-617 }}</ref>

Many modern children's stories and cartoons portray rabbits as particularly fond of eating carrots, largely due to the popularity of Bugs Bunny, whose carrot eating habit was modeled after Peter Warne, the character played by [[Clark Gable]] in the 1934 romantic comedy ''[[It Happened One Night]]''.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=George|editor1-first=Amber E.|editor2-last=Schatz|editor2-first=J.L.|title=Screening the Nonhuman: Representations of Animal Others in the Media|chapter=Chapter 5: Would Bugs Bunny Have Diabetes? The Realistic Consequences of Cartoons for Non-Human Animals|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4985-1375-3|pages=63–67|publisher=Lexington Books}}</ref> This is a misleading as wild rabbits do not naturally prefer carrots over other plants. Carrots are high in sugar, and excessive consumption can be unhealthy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bittel |first=Jason |date=2022-02-19 |title=Think you know what bunnies and bears eat? Their diets may surprise you. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/think-you-know-what-bunnies-and-bears-eat-their-diets-may-surprise-you/2019/09/20/bac528ea-ce5d-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html |access-date=2024-03-10 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> This has led to some owners of domestic rabbits feeding a carrot heavy diet on this false perception.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rioja-Lang |first1=Fiona |last2=Bacon |first2=Heather |last3=Connor |first3=Melanie |last4=Dwyer |first4=Cathy Mary |date=2019 |title=Rabbit welfare: determining priority welfare issues for pet rabbits using a modified Delphi method |journal=Veterinary Record Open |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=e000363 |doi= 10.1136/vetreco-2019-000363|issn=2399-2050 |pmc=6924855 |pmid=31903189}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=George |first1=Amber E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZD2CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 |title=Screening the Nonhuman: Representations of Animal Others in the Media |last2=Schatz |first2=J. L. |date=2016-04-27 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-4985-1375-3 |language=en}}</ref>