Maggie Koerth-Baker connects the two:
You've probably seen these whimsical taxidermy projects. Usually, they're just common rabbits with deer antlers glued to their heads—one step up from those shellacked frogs holding little wooden beer bottles that you can buy in any Gulf of Mexico resort town. Less well known is the fact that jackalopes-the-joke are based on reality. Rabbits really can grow "horns", actually tumors, when they're infected with a virus.
In fact, jakalopes exist for the same reason Guardasil—the controversial cervical cancer vaccine— and annual pap smears exist. The virus that causes tumors to grow on the heads of rabbits is related to the one that causes tumors to grow on the cervixes of human women.
(Photo by Flickr user ampersans)
The Dish 