The Washington Post headline read, Bunny Goes Bugs, Rabbit Attacks President.

It's 1979, and President Jimmy Carter has hijacked the news cycle with a story that nobody believes.

He claims that when he was out on his boat, fishing in a Georgia swamp, a massive rabbit swam toward him in an

attempt to board his vessel, and he was forced to defend himself by splashing the creature with his paddle

until the animal was suitably discouraged and swam to shore. Nobody, not even the president's own staff,

believed him.

A rabbit would never try to attack a human, Mr. President.

Rabbits can't swim, Mr. President.

It was considered so absurd that the Washington Post ran a parody of that famous Jaws movie poster. except it showed a massive rabbit instead of the shark,

and instead of a swimmer, it showed Jimmy Carter in his boat.

The caption, pause.

Jimmy Carter was mocked and humiliated for what was thought to be a bizarre confabulation until the vindicating truth came out.

A staffer had been taking photos that day, and when developed, they showed the president, on the water, splashing at an unseen adversary, along with another photo of a massive rabbit swimming away from him.

Pause was real.

However, the evidence only accelerated the teasing.

It turns out that getting in a fight with a bunny rabbit isn't great optics.

Today we're going to talk about paws, the swamp rabbit, Silvalagas Aquaticus. I'm Mackin. This is Species.

Welcome to the show.

Today we're going to talk about a big rabbit.

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