Crop Scene Investigation - 39 Solved: The mystery of the fallen corn trail

Monday, December 3, 2012

Mervyn Erb's investigation revealed that two rabbits had munched their way across Jack's corn field, cutting two plants in each row over a distance of 1,167 feet.

Besides the rabbit droppings that he found along the trail, Erb says teeth marks could be seen on plants that had been clipped just above the ground. "On some of the stalks, they didn't cut it through with the first bite, they had to re-bite it," says Erb, who calls the trail of plants the rabbits left one of the strangest things he's seen in all his years as an agronomist. "I wonder what would make two rabbits cross the field and literally chew off the corn in every row. What possessed them to start it and what possessed them to stop it?"

Erb determined that the trail was the work of two rabbits based on the fact that the trail was Y-shaped. At the beginning, there were two trails where a single plant was cut. It quickly converged and two plants were cut across the remainder of the trail. "It appears they started out separately and then joined forces," recalls Erb.

Congratulations to Ron Lefaive, Stoney Point for his correct answer. Many readers responded with the correct answer. A lot of you also thought turtles might have caused the damage. BF