World's Oldest Easter Bunny

Early Eocene lagomorph (Mammalia) from Western India and the early diversification of Lagomorpha. K. Rose, et al., Proc. Royal Soc. B., published on-line Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Bones photographs courtesy Rose et al.

Bones that a scientist picked up on a trip to India (including the above ankle bones, far left) were later deemed to be the oldest known rabbit bones ever found, a new study says. The ancient rabbit would not likely have looked similar to the modern-day Spider-Man ‘villian’, White Rabbit (right).

The new bones also show that advanced rabbit-like features evolved earlier than thought—as far back as the early Eocene, which lasted from 54.8 to 33.7 million years ago, experts say.