A stoat (Mustela erminea) uses playful cavorting to “cast a spell” on the rabbits:
Stoats have a holarctic range.
In North America, we call them short-tailed weasels. Some subspecies turn white in the winter, and these are widely trapped for their fur.
The fur is sold as ermine.
Stoat is synonymous with short-tailed weasel and ermine.
Stoats are in introduced species in New Zealand, where they wreak havoc upon ground nesting birds.
wow that is odd.
Someone once said the way to hunt pronghorn was to get down and lay on your back with your rifle ready but laying beside you. Then pull out a white handkerchief and gently swish it in the air.
In theory, the pronghorn will get curious and come up to see what the waving white handkerchief is…..
But then other people also told me about jackalopes, and even showed me stuffed ones. I don’t hunt, so I don’t know, but the stoat does seem to be doing something.
Maybe he triggers the rabbit’s hide reaction by doing something which makes the rabbit feel that the stoat doesn’t see him.
The reverse is said to work in tigers, their instincts tell them not to attack until the prey is not looking. So people in India who work near the tigers in the woods, wear a Halloween facemask on the BACK of their head, so that the tiger always sees a face.