Is Your Easter Bunny on Bunny Tinder ? Bunny Tinder! We love the term, and no we did not coin it, it was coined by academics from the University of Nottingham. A 2019 survey by the University of Nottingham questioned peoples reactions to flat faced bunnies. Over 22, 000 people surveyed most young people found “flat faced” rabbits the most appealing. However, health care professionals did not find flat faced rabbits appealing. Along with Brachycephalic breeds of cats and dogs, rabbits have now fallen victim to the flat face fad.
Here we are staring at yet another “holiday trend” pet the Bunny. The only Easter Bunny you should gift another person is a chocolate bunny. Hundreds of bunnies outlive their entertainment value long before the next Easter rolls around!
So we did a super quick bit of ‘research’ The results are disturbing. Five minutes on Instagram to ‘research” the popularity of flat faced animals is disturbing. Why are people so partial to flat faced animal? What is it about the big eyes and flat face that draws humans to these facial features? and why inspite of knowing the ill effects on a pets health would anyone encourage the breeding of these animals?
Instagram # search
#flatfacecat 78.5k
#flatfacedcat 11.6K
#flatfaceddogsociety 16.5K
#flatfaceddogs 1000+posts
#smashfaceddogs 100+ posts
#pugs 7.4 M
#pugsofinstagram 8.8M
#flatfacedanimals Fewer than 100 posts
#rabbitsofinstagram 4M posts
Part of the Nottingham survey suggests that people are partial to flat faced animals because it makes then seem vulnerable with their wide eyes and broad cranium. Neanderthals had similar features, are our brains trying to tell us something?
Social media influences and dictates so many of our actions and the course of our lives. It now influences our perceptions of cute and pretty. Young people spend an inordinate amount of time on platforms which skews their perceptions of reality. Abnormal expectations of body image are emerging to be a cause of grave concern for young people. Maybe Bunny Tinder is a good place for educators to begin teaching the truth? About themselves and the animals.
Teach students that animals as well as people do not need to change their outward appearances to suit a ‘fad’. It is not incumbent upon schools to teach the need to respect animals (domestic and wild). When you learn to respect nature as it is, you learn a lot about yourself and acceptance of who you are.
Dogs are not the only pets that humans have bred to have increasingly flat faces. Cats, such as Persians, also have smushed faces that are the result of our heinous matchmaking. More surprisingly, so do rabbits.
That’s right, rabbits! Take, for example, the Netherlands dwarf, an undeniably cute and very tiny bunny that one rabbit breeding website describes as “a ball head set atop a ball body.” This and other breeds such as the Lionhead — a maned animal that looks like no wild rabbit you’ve ever seen hopping through a field — often suffer from dental problems, ear infections and overflowing tear ducts, according to three British animal welfare charities that are trying to draw attention to the medical woes of brachycephalic cats and rabbits.
To underscore their point, the groups Friday released photos that superimposed short-faced animals over the kind of faces nature might favour.
So this Easter, gift a bunny – a chocolate one. And help educate people about the needs of a bunny as a pet. They need attention, specific diets, socialisation and dedication. Not another pet who comes into a home until it outlives its entertainment value. And especially do not help encourage ‘smash faced’ rabbits. Find your local Bunny rescue wherever in the world you may be and volunteer- they need your help!