I keep running across this on website with the theme of things you thought but weren’t.
It says Bugs Bunny was actually a hare. Now is there any proof of this? I mean I looked on the old cartoon site and we see the Cartoons as Hairbrained Hare or Rebel Rabbit, so he’s titled as both. He lives in a hole, don’t only rabbit do this?
So if you had to choose would Bugs be a rabbit or a hare? Or is the continuity too bad to decide?
“Hare” and “rabbit” (and “bunny” for that matter) are used interchangeably by the non-biologically inclined. Given that Bugs could stand erect, talk, and wear gloves, the artists gently crafting his form probably did not consider biological accuracy of paramount importance.
I believe the superficial differences between the two cannot be distinguished on an anthropomorphised stylised animated fantasy creation.
I thought this was going to be about a different sort of proof.
This site compares hares and rabbits.
Bugs is definitely large and fast.
Bugs has very long ears and large feet.
Bugs has long hind legs.
Bugs has no black markings.
But he also has no brown fur. He does have white fur but it doesn’t vary with the seasons.
Bugs is definitely not domesticated.
Bugs has always had hair, even when shown as a young rabbit in some flashbacks. And he is clearly always been able to fend for himself.
As the OP noted, Bugs is a burrower.
Bugs is solitary and hardly ever seen with other rabbits/hares.
Bugs loves the carrots.
So overall, I’d have to say Bugs is a hare, albeit one that has adopted a few rabbit-like traits.
Snopes is wrong about that. Warner Brothers (and all owners of popular cartoon characters) have very strict guidelines about how their properties are drawn, and the bottom of Bugs’s white belly does not feature an inverted-U like that. Look here and contrast the bottom of his belly with the picture on the Snopes page. I love the Mikkelsons but they occasionally get cocky and dismissive and that’s the case this time, IMO.
Brilliant cartoon, btw. Haven’t seen that since I was a kid, thanks for linking.
You’re comparing a relatively modern incarnation of Bugs with one that’s fairly old (look at Elmer Fudd’s character design). You would’ve done better to compare him with other views from the same cartoon.
You might still be right. However, if the WB animators are going to break “very strict guidelines” to draw a penis, what’s to keep them from breaking it by mistake and simply getting lazy about the white area?
Oh, I’m definitely not saying it’s his penis. My first thought was that it’s his tail, but that doesn’t quite work, either. I dunno what it is, but I think Snopes jumped to a [wrong] conclusion.
Edited to add:
That part hasn’t changed. I would’ve done exactly the same to compare him with other views from the same cartoon.
Tsk. Everybody knows he’s a wabbit. (Order Wagomorpha, family Weporidae.)
The recipe for hassenpfeffer almost always calls for rabbit meat. I guess it’s because people don’t like to find hare in their food. 
Bugs was both a rabbit and a hare, depending on what was funny.
Thus, when “hare” was a good pun (“Over 50 years and one gray hare”), he was a hare.
When “rabbit” was funny (“wascally wabbit”), he was a rabbit.
And when he visited the beach and amusement in south Brooklyn, he was a coney.
And when he wanted to plant the seeds of transvestism and/or gender identity disorder in the impressionable youths watching the cartoon, he dressed like a woman.
Not domesticated?! But he sleeps in a bed!
This reminds me of the discussion we had a while back over whether Curious George is a monkey or an ape.
I was about to respond in defense of Snopes’ conclusion, citing model sheets, frames from the short in question, and the highly malleable character of Clampett/McKimson -inspired design versus the more rigorously defined animation style of the Jones/Freleng era.
Then I realized that I was trying to frame a persuasive, compelling argument on the topic of Bugs Bunny’s wang.
Ape. Curious George is a chimpanzee; all chimps are apes…
Well, here’s the thread I was referring to:
Who or what is Curious George?
Oddly enough, the Wikipedia article seems to have been edited since then, to remove a discussion of this very question.
If you have all that information, please provide. I’m curious about it and not one bit averse to being proven wrong.
Is that contest Boyo Jim won still open to new submissions? Cause I think this sentence would have to win, hands down.
I’m still hysterically laughing…thank you
I waughed and waughed. I wuv you. 
