Rabbit

Rabbits are mammals of the order Lagomorpha. There are about fifty different species of rabbits and hares. The order Lagomorpha is made of rabbits, pikas and hares. Rabbits can be found in many parts of the world. They live in families and eat vegetables and hay. In the wild, rabbits live in burrows, that they dig themselves. A group of rabbits living together in a burrow is called a warren. Rabbits are famous for hopping and eating carrots.

Rabbit Fossil range: Late Eocene – Holocene,
European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Scientific classification

A male rabbit is called a buck, and a female is called a doe. A baby rabbit is called a kit, which is short for kitten. Rabbits have a gestation period of around 31 days. The female can have up to 12-13 kits, very rarely litters as big as 18 and as small as one. When the doe gives birth her babies are collectively referred to as a litter. Some people have rabbits as pets. Rabbits are also raised for their meat. Rabbits are of a different biological classification than hares.

Since rabbits are prey animals, they are careful in open spaces. If they sense danger, they freeze and watch. Rabbit vision has a very wide field, including overhead scanning. Their predators are foxes, wolves, coyotes, cougars, lynxes, cats, dogs, bears, raccoons, skunks, weasels, badgers, snakes, and birds of prey. People are also known to shoot rabbits, because they eat crops. Their escape method is to run for their burrow, where they are usually safe.

Rabbits have a complex social structure and, like dogs, they have a hierarchy. Rabbit ears probably have several functions. The main function is to give warning of predators, but they may be used for signalling, and temperature regulation.

A rabbit walking in the pet park

Rabbits as pets

In the wild, rabbits have plenty to keep them occupied, from foraging to reproduction to territorial defence. Captive rabbits, on the other hand, often lack stimulation. This can lead to behavioural problems and poor health. Pet rabbits often live eight to twelve years.

Rabbit Media

• 

  Wild animals of North America, intimate studies of big and little creatures of the mammal kingdom (Page 511) (Sylvilagus palustris)

• 

  Lepus cuniculus - 1700-1880 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica -(white background)

• 

  Lepus timidus - 1700-1880 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica -(white background)

• 

  Wax models showing the development of the rabbit heart

• 

  A preserved rabbit showing how the skeleton fits inside its skin, at the Horniman Museum.

• 

  Melanistic coloring

  Oryctologus cuniculus

  European rabbit (wild)
• 

  A specimen of the skeletal articulations of rabbit's hind limbs in the Pacific Lutheran University natural history collection

• 

  The rabbit's hind limb (lateral view) includes muscles involved in the quadriceps and hamstrings.

• 

  By Ruth Lawson. Otago Polytechnic.

• 

  A Holland Lop resting with one ear up and one ear down. Some rabbits can adjust their ears to hear distant sounds.