by Walter and Rosemary Brasch
Forget everything you learned about Bre'er Rabbit, the brightest, most cunning of all animals in West African folklore and Joel Chandler Harris stories.
Disregard what you saw Bugs Bunny, the Brooklynà ‚¬"born wise-cracking Br'er Rabbit spinoff, do to mentally-lame hunter Elmer Fudd and a host of cartoon characters.
Peter Cottontail, Peter Rabbit, and Roger Rabbit. Thumper, the March Hare, and The Easter Bunny. All are smarter in fiction than in real life. Even the average Playboy Bunny is brighter than the average rabbit.
Check out any list of animal intelligence rankings, and you'll see various monkeys and apes; Wolves, foxes, coyotes, and dogs; pigs, elephants, and horses; dolphins and whales; crows, parrots, and several other birds; and dozens of other animals, including a couple of invertebrates. Rabbits aren't even on most lists. Of course, the lists are made by humans, whose own intelligence is suspect most of the time.
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