Elden Ring's vast lands are host to many creatures and critters that oftentimes pose a threat to players. As a general rule of thumb, if a creature can be locked onto, it is likely a foe that players can and potentially should strike before it has the chance to strike first. But that is not always the case as faunae roam about in Elden Ring that are not hostile, at least at first.
Diverse wildlife can, however, be killed in order to harvest specific materials needed to craft many of Elden Ring's consumables and items that will aid players on their journey, such as the crafting of a variety of arrows. These animals include goats, eagles, wolves, and guillemots. In addition, one critter considered to be some sort of rabbit was recently discovered to be a different animal entirely.
Elden Ring players may have noticed that these peculiar creatures are not exactly rabbits and fit a broader categorical appearance. The website Fextralife has come to call them "Rabbitgaroos" based on how they may look like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo, but Redditor u/IamPotato14 has clarified that Elden Ring's AI, and a bit of research into the matter, concludes that these creatures are very much nonfictional and inspired by rodents called springhares.
Because they may be lesser-known rodents that bear a comparable appearance to rabbits, it is unsurprising if many players were unaware of this distinction. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for any of the game's wildlife to be influenced by nonfictional animals yet altered to fit Elden Ring's high fantasy atmosphere. There are enormous, runic bears, for example, that roam about that are purely fictional apart from their nonfictional, smaller counterparts, so the line could be easily blurred if players were unfamiliar with most endemic creatures.
The FromSoftware community has since used comical terms for other characters and creatures that players encounter, such as "Pot Boy" for Elden Ring's Iron Fist Alexander and similar pots, or "Dog" or "Turtle Pope" for the tortoise Miriel. Players will likely continue to call these springhares "rabbits" due to this knowledge perhaps not being ubiquitous yet. Springhares are also not common to every locale or biome in Elden Ring, much less nonfictional geography, and can be easily forgotten about as a result when gigantic, macabre crows and canines are in players' midsts.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.