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Wikipedia

Rabbit

July 14, 2023

"Bunny" redirects here. For other uses, see Bunny (disambiguation) and Rabbit (disambiguation).

Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). Oryctolagus cuniculus includes the European rabbit species and its descendants, the world's 305 breeds[1] of domestic rabbit. Sylvilagus includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail. The European rabbit, which has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica, is familiar throughout the world as a wild prey animal and as a domesticated form of livestock and pet. With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, clothing, a companion, and a source of artistic inspiration.

Rabbit
Temporal range: Late Eocene – Holocene, 53–0 Ma
European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Included genera

Although once considered rodents, lagomorphs like rabbits have been discovered to have diverged separately and earlier than their rodent cousins and have a number of traits rodents lack, like two extra incisors.

Terminology and etymology

A male rabbit is called a buck; a female is called a doe. An older term for an adult rabbit used until the 18th century is coney (derived ultimately from the Latin cuniculus), while rabbit once referred only to the young animals.[2] Another term for a young rabbit is bunny, though this term is often applied informally (particularly by children) to rabbits generally, especially domestic ones. More recently, the term kit or kitten has been used to refer to a young rabbit.

A group of rabbits is known as a colony or nest (or, occasionally, a warren, though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live).[3] A group of baby rabbits produced from a single mating is referred to as a litter[4] and a group of domestic rabbits living together is sometimes called a herd.[5]

The word rabbit itself derives from the Middle English rabet, a borrowing from the Walloon robète, which was a diminutive of the French or Middle Dutch robbe.[6]

Taxonomy

See also: List of leporids

Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the order Rodentia (rodent) until 1912, when they were moved into a new order, Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). Below are some of the genera and species of the rabbit.

  •  
    Brachylagus idahoensis
    Pygmy rabbit
  •  
    Nesolagus netscheri
    Sumatran Striped Rabbit
    (Model)
  •  
    Oryctolagus cuniculus
    European rabbit
    (Feral Tasmanian specimen)
  •  
    Pentalagus furnessi
    Amami rabbit
    (Taxidermy specimen)
  •  
    Romerolagus diazi
    Volcano rabbit
    (Taxidermy specimen)
  •  
    Sylvilagus aquaticus
    Swamp rabbit
    (Juvenile)
  •  
    Sylvilagus audubonii
    Desert cottontail
  •  
    Sylvilagus bachmani
    Brush rabbit
  •  
    Sylvilagus brasiliensis
    Tapeti
    (Taxidermy specimen)
  •  
    Sylvilagus floridanus
    Eastern cottontail

Differences from hares

Main article: Hare
 
Hare
Johann Daniel Meyer (1748)
 
Rabbit
Johann Daniel Meyer (1748)

The term rabbit is typically used for all Leporidae species excluding the genus Lepus. Members of that genus are instead known as hares or jackrabbits.

Lepus species are typically precocial, born relatively mature and mobile with hair and good vision, while rabbit species are altricial, born hairless and blind, and requiring closer care. Hares live a relatively solitary life in a simple nest above the ground, while most rabbits live in social groups in burrows or warrens. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with ears that are more elongated, and with hind legs that are larger and longer. Descendants of the European rabbit are commonly bred as livestock and kept as pets, whereas no hares have been domesticated – the breed called the Belgian hare is actually a domestic rabbit which has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.

Domestication

Main article: Domestic rabbit

Rabbits have long been domesticated. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the European rabbit has been widely kept as livestock, starting in ancient Rome. Selective breeding has generated a wide variety of rabbit breeds, of which many (since the early 19th century) are also kept as pets. Some strains of rabbit have been bred specifically as research subjects.

As livestock, rabbits are bred for their meat and fur. The earliest breeds were important sources of meat, and so became larger than wild rabbits, but domestic rabbits in modern times range in size from dwarf to giant. Rabbit fur, prized for its softness, can be found in a broad range of coat colors and patterns, as well as lengths. The Angora rabbit breed, for example, was developed for its long, silky fur, which is often hand-spun into yarn. Other domestic rabbit breeds have been developed primarily for the commercial fur trade, including the Rex, which has a short plush coat.

Biology

 
Wax models showing the development of the rabbit heart

Evolution

Because the rabbit's epiglottis is engaged over the soft palate except when swallowing, the rabbit is an obligate nasal breather. Rabbits have two sets of incisor teeth, one behind the other. This way they can be distinguished from rodents, with which they are often confused.[7] Carl Linnaeus originally grouped rabbits and rodents under the class Glires; later, they were separated as the scientific consensus is that many of their similarities were a result of convergent evolution. Recent DNA analysis and the discovery of a common ancestor has supported the view that they share a common lineage, so rabbits and rodents are now often grouped together in the superorder Glires.[8]

Morphology

 
Skeleton of the rabbit

Since speed and agility are a rabbit's main defenses against predators (including the swift fox), rabbits have large hind leg bones and well-developed musculature. Though plantigrade at rest, rabbits are on their toes while running, assuming a more digitigrade posture. Rabbits use their strong claws for digging and (along with their teeth) for defense.[9] Each front foot has four toes plus a dewclaw. Each hind foot has four toes (but no dewclaw).[10]

 
Melanistic coloring
Oryctologus cuniculus
European rabbit (wild)

Most wild rabbits (especially compared to hares) have relatively full, egg-shaped bodies. The soft coat of the wild rabbit is agouti in coloration (or, rarely, melanistic), which aids in camouflage. The tail of the rabbit (with the exception of the cottontail species) is dark on top and white below. Cottontails have white on the top of their tails.[11]

As a result of the position of the eyes in its skull, the rabbit has a field of vision that encompasses nearly 360 degrees, with just a small blind spot at the bridge of the nose.[12]

Hind limb elements

 
This image comes from a specimen in the Pacific Lutheran University natural history collection. It displays all of the skeletal articulations of rabbit's hind limbs.

The anatomy of rabbits' hind limbs are structurally similar to that of other land mammals and contribute to their specialized form of locomotion. The bones of the hind limbs consist of long bones (the femur, tibia, fibula, and phalanges) as well as short bones (the tarsals). These bones are created through endochondral ossification during development. Like most land mammals, the round head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum of the os coxae. The femur articulates with the tibia, but not the fibula, which is fused to the tibia. The tibia and fibula articulate with the tarsals of the pes, commonly called the foot. The hind limbs of the rabbit are longer than the front limbs. This allows them to produce their hopping form of locomotion. Longer hind limbs are more capable of producing faster speeds. Hares, which have longer legs than cottontail rabbits, are able to move considerably faster.[13] Rabbits stay just on their toes when moving; this is called Digitigrade locomotion. The hind feet have four long toes that allow for this and are webbed to prevent them from spreading when hopping.[14] Rabbits do not have paw pads on their feet like most other animals that use digitigrade locomotion. Instead, they have coarse compressed hair that offers protection.[15]

Musculature

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

Rabbits have muscled hind legs that allow for maximum force, maneuverability, and acceleration that is divided into three main parts; foot, thigh, and leg. The hind limbs of a rabbit are an exaggerated feature. They are much longer than the forelimbs, providing more force. Rabbits run on their toes to gain the optimal stride during locomotion. The force put out by the hind limbs is contributed to both the structural anatomy of the fusion tibia and fibula, and muscular features.[16] Bone formation and removal, from a cellular standpoint, is directly correlated to hind limb muscles. Action pressure from muscles creates force that is then distributed through the skeletal structures. Rabbits that generate less force, putting less stress on bones are more prone to osteoporosis due to bone rarefaction.[17] In rabbits, the more fibers in a muscle, the more resistant to fatigue. For example, hares have a greater resistance to fatigue than cottontails. The muscles of rabbit's hind limbs can be classified into four main categories: hamstrings, quadriceps, dorsiflexors, or plantar flexors. The quadriceps muscles are in charge of force production when jumping. Complementing these muscles are the hamstrings, which aid in short bursts of action. These muscles play off of one another in the same way as the plantar flexors and dorsiflexors, contributing to the generation and actions associated with force.[18]

Ears

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

Within the order lagomorphs, the ears are utilized to detect and avoid predators. In the family Leporidae, the ears are typically longer than they are wide. For example, in black tailed jack rabbits, their long ears cover a greater surface area relative to their body size that allow them to detect predators from far away. Contrasted to cotton tailed rabbits, their ears are smaller and shorter, requiring predators to be closer to detect them before they can flee. Evolution has favored rabbits having shorter ears, so the larger surface area does not cause them to lose heat in more temperate regions. The opposite can be seen in rabbits that live in hotter climates, mainly because they possess longer ears that have a larger surface area that help with dispersion of heat as well as the theory that sound does not travel well in more arid air, opposed to cooler air. Therefore, longer ears are meant to aid the organism in detecting predators sooner rather than later in warmer temperatures.[19][page needed] The rabbit is characterized by its shorter ears while hares are characterized by their longer ears.[20][page needed] Rabbits' ears are an important structure to aid thermoregulation and detect predators due to how the outer, middle, and inner ear muscles coordinate with one another. The ear muscles also aid in maintaining balance and movement when fleeing predators.[21]

Outer ear

The auricle, also known as the pinna, is a rabbit's outer ear.[22] The rabbit's pinnae represent a fair part of the body surface area. It is theorized that the ears aid in dispersion of heat at temperatures above 30 °C with rabbits in warmer climates having longer pinnae due to this. Another theory is that the ears function as shock absorbers that could aid and stabilize rabbit's vision when fleeing predators, but this has typically only been seen in hares.[23][page needed] The rest of the outer ear has bent canals that lead to the eardrum or tympanic membrane.[24]

Middle ear

The middle ear is filled with three bones called ossicles and is separated by the outer eardrum in the back of the rabbit's skull. The three ossicles are called hammer, anvil, and stirrup and act to decrease sound before it hits the inner ear. In general, the ossicles act as a barrier to the inner ear for sound energy.[24]

Inner ear

Inner ear fluid called endolymph receives the sound energy. After receiving the energy, later within the inner ear there are two parts: the cochlea that utilizes sound waves from the ossicles and the vestibular apparatus that manages the rabbit's position in regards to movement. Within the cochlea there is a basilar membrane that contains sensory hair structures utilized to send nerve signals to the brain so it can recognize different sound frequencies. Within the vestibular apparatus the rabbit possesses three semicircular canals to help detect angular motion.[24]

Dewlaps

A dewlap is a secondary sex characteristic in rabbits, caused by the presence of female sex hormones. They develop with puberty. A female rabbit who has been neutered before reaching sexual maturity will not develop a dewlap, and even if a doe is neutered after developing a dewlap, the dewlap will gradually disappear over several months. This also aligns with the results of injecting male rabbits with female sex hormones, specifically the ones from pregnant women's urine. The male rabbits developed dewlaps, which then gradually disappeared once administration had ceased.[25] (This is not the process of the rabbit test, a common way to test for human female pregnancy in the 20th century; the pregnancy test involve dissecting female rabbits after injection with urine to see if their ovaries had enlarged.)[26] While it is unclear exactly what function a dewlap performs, pregnant female rabbits will pluck fur from their dewlaps shortly before giving birth to line a nest for their young.[27]

Thermoregulation

 
Rabbits use their large, vascularized ears, which aid in thermoregulation, to keep their body temperature at an optimal level.

Thermoregulation is the process that an organism utilizes to maintain an optimal body temperature independent of external conditions.[28] This process is carried out by the pinnae, which takes up most of the rabbit's body surface and contain a vascular network and arteriovenous shunts.[29] In a rabbit, the optimal body temperature is around 38.5–40°C.[30] If their body temperature exceeds or does not meet this optimal temperature, the rabbit must return to homeostasis. Homeostasis of body temperature is maintained by the use of their large, highly vascularized ears that are able to change the amount of blood flow that passes through the ears.

Constriction and dilation of blood vessels in the ears are used to control the core body temperature of a rabbit. If the core temperature exceeds its optimal temperature greatly, blood flow is constricted to limit the amount of blood going through the vessels. With this constriction, there is only a limited amount of blood that is passing through the ears where ambient heat would be able to heat the blood that is flowing through the ears and therefore, increasing the body temperature. Constriction is also used when the ambient temperature is much lower than that of the rabbit's core body temperature. When the ears are constricted it again limits blood flow through the ears to conserve the optimal body temperature of the rabbit. If the ambient temperature is either 15 degrees above or below the optimal body temperature, the blood vessels will dilate. With the blood vessels being enlarged, the blood is able to pass through the large surface area, causing it to either heat or cool down.

During hot summers, the rabbit has the capability to stretch its pinnae, which allows for greater surface area and increase heat dissipation. In cold winters, the rabbit does the opposite and folds its ears in order to decrease its surface area to the ambient air, which would decrease their body temperature.

The jackrabbit has the largest ears within the Oryctolagus cuniculus group. Their ears contribute to 17% of their total body surface area. Their large pinna were evolved to maintain homeostasis while in the extreme temperatures of the desert.

Respiratory system

 
Ventral view of dissected rabbit lungs with key structures labeled.

The rabbit's nasal cavity lies dorsal to the oral cavity, and the two compartments are separated by the hard and soft palate.[31] The nasal cavity itself is separated into a left and right side by a cartilage barrier, and it is covered in fine hairs that trap dust before it can enter the respiratory tract.[31][32][page needed] As the rabbit breathes, air flows in through the nostrils along the alar folds. From there, the air moves into the nasal cavity, also known as the nasopharynx, down through the trachea, through the larynx, and into the lungs.[32][page needed][33] The larynx functions as the rabbit's voice box, which enables it to produce a wide variety of sounds.[32][page needed] The trachea is a long tube embedded with cartilaginous rings that prevent the tube from collapsing as air moves in and out of the lungs. The trachea then splits into a left and right bronchus, which meet the lungs at a structure called the hilum. From there, the bronchi split into progressively more narrow and numerous branches. The bronchi branch into bronchioles, into respiratory bronchioles, and ultimately terminate at the alveolar ducts. The branching that is typically found in rabbit lungs is a clear example of monopodial branching, in which smaller branches divide out laterally from a larger central branch.[34]

The structure of the rabbit's nasal and oral cavities necessitates breathing through the nose. This is due to the fact that the epiglottis is fixed to the backmost portion of the soft palate.[33] Within the oral cavity, a layer of tissue sits over the opening of the glottis, which blocks airflow from the oral cavity to the trachea.[31] The epiglottis functions to prevent the rabbit from aspirating on its food. Further, the presence of a soft and hard palate allow the rabbit to breathe through its nose while it feeds.[32][page needed]

 
Monopodial branching as seen in dissected rabbit lungs.

Rabbits' lungs are divided into four lobes: the cranial, middle, caudal, and accessory lobes. The right lung is made up of all four lobes, while the left lung only has two: the cranial and caudal lobes.[34] In order to provide space for the heart, the left cranial lobe of the lungs is significantly smaller than that of the right.[31] The diaphragm is a muscular structure that lies caudal to the lungs and contracts to facilitate respiration.[31][33]


Digestion

Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass and other leafy plants. Consequently, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem via a form of hindgut fermentation. They pass two distinct types of feces: hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs or "night droppings" [35] and are immediately eaten (a behaviour known as coprophagy). Rabbits reingest their own droppings (rather than chewing the cud as do cows and numerous other herbivores) to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients.[36]

Rabbits graze heavily and rapidly for roughly the first half-hour of a grazing period (usually in the late afternoon), followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding.[citation needed] In this time, the rabbit will also excrete many hard fecal pellets, being waste pellets that will not be reingested.[citation needed] If the environment is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours, grazing at intervals.[citation needed] While out of the burrow, the rabbit will occasionally reingest its soft, partially digested pellets; this is rarely observed, since the pellets are reingested as they are produced.[citation needed]

Hard pellets are made up of hay-like fragments of plant cuticle and stalk, being the final waste product after redigestion of soft pellets. These are only released outside the burrow and are not reingested. Soft pellets are usually produced several hours after grazing, after the hard pellets have all been excreted.[citation needed] They are made up of micro-organisms and undigested plant cell walls.[citation needed]

Rabbits are hindgut digesters. This means that most of their digestion takes place in their large intestine and cecum. In rabbits, the cecum is about 10 times bigger than the stomach and it along with the large intestine makes up roughly 40% of the rabbit's digestive tract.[37] The unique musculature of the cecum allows the intestinal tract of the rabbit to separate fibrous material from more digestible material; the fibrous material is passed as feces, while the more nutritious material is encased in a mucous lining as a cecotrope. Cecotropes, sometimes called "night feces", are high in minerals, vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit's health. Rabbits eat these to meet their nutritional requirements; the mucous coating allows the nutrients to pass through the acidic stomach for digestion in the intestines. This process allows rabbits to extract the necessary nutrients from their food.[38]

The chewed plant material collects in the large cecum, a secondary chamber between the large and small intestine containing large quantities of symbiotic bacteria that help with the digestion of cellulose and also produce certain B vitamins. The pellets are about 56% bacteria by dry weight, largely accounting for the pellets being 24.4% protein on average. The soft feces form here and contain up to five times the vitamins of hard feces. After being excreted, they are eaten whole by the rabbit and redigested in a special part of the stomach. The pellets remain intact for up to six hours in the stomach; the bacteria within continue to digest the plant carbohydrates. This double-digestion process enables rabbits to use nutrients that they may have missed during the first passage through the gut, as well as the nutrients formed by the microbial activity and thus ensures that maximum nutrition is derived from the food they eat.[11] This process serves the same purpose in the rabbit as rumination does in cattle and sheep.[39]

 
Dissected image of the male rabbit reproductive system with key structures labeled

Because rabbits cannot vomit,[40] if buildup occurs within the intestines (due often to a diet with insufficient fibre),[41] intestinal blockage can occur.[42]

Reproduction

 
Diagram of the male rabbit reproductive system with main components labeled

The adult male reproductive system forms the same as most mammals with the seminiferous tubular compartment containing the Sertoli cells and an adluminal compartment that contains the Leydig cells.[43] The Leydig cells produce testosterone, which maintains libido[43] and creates secondary sex characteristics such as the genital tubercle and penis. The Sertoli cells triggers the production of Anti-Müllerian duct hormone, which absorbs the Müllerian duct. In an adult male rabbit, the sheath of the penis is cylinder-like and can be extruded as early as two months of age.[44] The scrotal sacs lay lateral to the penis and contain epididymal fat pads which protect the testes. Between 10 and 14 weeks, the testes descend and are able to retract into the pelvic cavity in order to thermoregulate.[44] Furthermore, the secondary sex characteristics, such as the testes, are complex and secrete many compounds. These compounds include fructose, citric acid, minerals, and a uniquely high amount of catalase.[43]

 
Diagram of the female rabbit reproductive system with main components labeled.

The adult female reproductive tract is bipartite, which prevents an embryo from translocating between uteri.[45] The two uterine horns communicate to two cervixes and forms one vaginal canal. Along with being bipartite, the female rabbit does not go through an estrus cycle, which causes mating induced ovulation.[44]

The average female rabbit becomes sexually mature at three to eight months of age and can conceive at any time of the year for the duration of her life. Egg and sperm production can begin to decline after three years.[43] During mating, the male rabbit will mount the female rabbit from behind and insert his penis into the female and make rapid pelvic hip thrusts. The encounter lasts only 20–40 seconds and after, the male will throw himself backwards off the female.[46]

The rabbit gestation period is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days with an average period of 31 days. A longer gestation period will generally yield a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods will give birth to a larger litter. The size of a single litter can range from four to 12 kits allowing a female to deliver up to 60 new kits a year. After birth, the female can become pregnant again as early as the next day.[44]

After mating, hormonal changes will cause the doe to begin to dig a burrow for her nest about a week before giving birth. Between three days and a few hours before giving birth another series of hormonal changes will cause her to prepare the nest structure. The doe will first gather grass for a structure, and an elevation in prolactin shortly before birth will cause her fur to shed that the doe will then use to line the nest, providing insulation for the newborn kits.[47]

The mortality rates of embryos are high in rabbits and can be due to infection, trauma, poor nutrition and environmental stress so a high fertility rate is necessary to counter this.[44]

Sleep

Further information: Sleep (non-human)

Rabbits may appear to be crepuscular, but their natural inclination is toward nocturnal activity.[48] In 2011, the average sleep time of a rabbit in captivity was calculated at 8.4 hours per day.[49] As with other prey animals, rabbits often sleep with their eyes open, so that sudden movements will awaken the rabbit to respond to potential danger.[50]

Diseases and immunity

See also: Category:Rabbit diseases

In addition to being at risk of disease from common pathogens such as Bordetella bronchiseptica and Escherichia coli, rabbits can contract the virulent, species-specific viruses RHD ("rabbit hemorrhagic disease", a form of calicivirus)[51] or myxomatosis. Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms (such as Taenia serialis), external parasites (including fleas and mites), coccidia species, and Toxoplasma gondii.[52][53] Domesticated rabbits with a diet lacking in high fiber sources, such as hay and grass, are susceptible to potentially lethal gastrointestinal stasis.[54] Rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.[55]

Encephalitozoon cuniculi, an obligate intracellular parasite is also capable of infecting many mammals including rabbits.

Rabbit immunity has significantly diverged from other tetrapods in the manner it employs immunoglobulin light chains.[56][57] In one case McCartney-Francis et al., 1984 discover a unique additional disulfide bond between Cys 80 in Vκ and Cys 171 in Cκ.[56][57] They suggest that this may serve to stabilise rabbit antibodies.[56][57] Meanwhile IGKC1 shows high amino acid divergence between domesticated types and ferals derived from them.[57] This can be as high as 40%.[57]

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease is caused by strains of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) including type 2 (RHDV2).[58] RHDV2 was detected for the first time in Washington state, US in May 2022 and then in August once in Washington and twice in Oregon.[59]

Ecology

 
Rabbit kits one hour after birth

Rabbits are prey animals and are therefore constantly aware of their surroundings. For instance, in Mediterranean Europe, rabbits are the main prey of red foxes, badgers, and Iberian lynxes.[60] If confronted by a potential threat, a rabbit may freeze and observe then warn others in the warren with powerful thumps on the ground. Rabbits have a remarkably wide field of vision, and a good deal of it is devoted to overhead scanning.[61] The doe (mother) is aware that she gives off scent which can attract predators, so she will stay away from the nest to avoid putting the kits (babies) in danger, returning the nest only a few times a day to feed the kits.[62]

Rabbits survive predation by burrowing, hopping away in a zig-zag motion, and, if captured, delivering powerful kicks with their hind legs. Their strong teeth allow them to eat and to bite in order to escape a struggle.[63] The longest-lived rabbit on record, a domesticated European rabbit living in Tasmania, died at age 18.[64] The lifespan of wild rabbits is much shorter; the average longevity of an eastern cottontail, for instance, is less than one year.[65]

Habitat and range

 
Domestic rabbit photographed at Alligator Bay, Beauvoir, France.

Rabbit habitats include meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands.[66] Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.[66]

More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America.[66] They are also native to southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts of Africa and South America. They are not naturally found in most of Eurasia, where a number of species of hares are present. Rabbits first entered South America relatively recently, as part of the Great American Interchange. Much of the continent has just one species of rabbit, the tapeti, while most of South America's southern cone is without rabbits.

The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the world.[11] A recent study found that "the (so-called) Chinese rabbits were introduced from Europe. Genetic diversity in Chinese rabbits was very low."[67]

Rabbits have been launched into space orbit.[68]

Environmental problems

See also: Rabbits in Australia
 
Impact of rabbit-proof fence, Cobar, New South Wales, 1905

Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans. As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, feral rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture. Gassing (fumigation of warrens),[69] barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting have been used to control rabbit populations, but the most effective measures are diseases such as myxomatosis (myxo or mixi, colloquially) and calicivirus. In Europe, where rabbits are farmed on a large scale, they are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus with a genetically modified virus. The virus was developed in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers. If it were to make its way into wild populations in areas such as Australia, it could create a population boom, as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival. Rabbits in Australia and New Zealand are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them.[70][71]

Rabbits are known to be able to catch fire and spread wildfires, but the efficiency and relevance of this method has been doubted by forest experts who contend that a rabbit on fire could move some meters.[72][73] Knowledge on fire-spreading rabbits is based on anecdotes as there is no known scientific investigation on the subject.[73]

As food and clothing

Main article: Cuniculture
See also: Category:Rabbit dishes

In some areas, wild rabbits and hares are hunted for their meat, a lean source of high quality protein.[74] In the wild, such hunting is accomplished with the aid of trained falcons, ferrets, or dogs, as well as with snares or other traps, and rifles. A caught rabbit may be dispatched with a sharp blow to the back of its head, a practice from which the term rabbit punch is derived.

Wild leporids comprise a small portion of global rabbit-meat consumption. Domesticated descendants of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that are bred and kept as livestock (a practice called cuniculture) account for the estimated 200 million tons of rabbit meat produced annually.[75] Approximately 1.2 billion rabbits are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.[76] In 1994, the countries with the highest consumption per capita of rabbit meat were Malta with 8.89 kg (19 lb 10 oz), Italy with 5.71 kg (12 lb 9 oz), and Cyprus with 4.37 kg (9 lb 10 oz), falling to 0.03 kg (1 oz) in Japan. The figure for the United States was 0.14 kg (5 oz) per capita. The largest producers of rabbit meat in 1994 were China, Russia, Italy, France, and Spain.[77] Rabbit meat was once a common commodity in Sydney, Australia, but declined after the myxomatosis virus was intentionally introduced to control the exploding population of feral rabbits in the area.

In the United Kingdom, fresh rabbit is sold in butcher shops and markets, and some supermarkets sell frozen rabbit meat. At farmers markets there, including the famous Borough Market in London, rabbit carcasses are sometimes displayed hanging, unbutchered (in the traditional style), next to braces of pheasant or other small game. Rabbit meat is a feature of Moroccan cuisine, where it is cooked in a tajine with "raisins and grilled almonds added a few minutes before serving".[78] In China, rabbit meat is particularly popular in Sichuan cuisine, with its stewed rabbit, spicy diced rabbit, BBQ-style rabbit, and even spicy rabbit heads, which have been compared to spicy duck neck.[75] Rabbit meat is comparatively unpopular elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.

An extremely rare infection associated with rabbits-as-food is tularemia (also known as rabbit fever), which may be contracted from an infected rabbit.[79] Hunters are at higher risk for tularemia because of the potential for inhaling the bacteria during the skinning process.

In addition to their meat, rabbits are used for their wool, fur, and pelts, as well as their nitrogen-rich manure and their high-protein milk.[80] Production industries have developed domesticated rabbit breeds (such as the well-known Angora rabbit) to efficiently fill these needs.

In art, literature, and culture

Main article: Rabbits and hares in art

Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny. The species' role as a prey animal with few defenses evokes vulnerability and innocence, and in folklore and modern children's stories, rabbits often appear as sympathetic characters, able to connect easily with youth of all kinds (for example, the Velveteen Rabbit, or Thumper in Bambi).

With its reputation as a prolific breeder, the rabbit juxtaposes sexuality with innocence, as in the Playboy Bunny. The rabbit (as a swift prey animal) is also known for its speed, agility, and endurance, symbolized (for example) by the marketing icons the Energizer Bunny and the Duracell Bunny.

Folklore

Main article: List of fictional hares and rabbits

The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies.

The rabbit as trickster is a part of American popular culture, as Br'er Rabbit (from African-American folktales and, later, Disney animation) and Bugs Bunny (the cartoon character from Warner Bros.), for example.

Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters), in Watership Down (including the film and television adaptations), in Rabbit Hill (by Robert Lawson), and in the Peter Rabbit stories (by Beatrix Potter). In the 1920s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a popular cartoon character.

A rabbit's foot may be carried as an amulet, believed to bring protection and good luck. This belief is found in many parts of the world, with the earliest use being recorded in Europe c. 600 BC.[83]

On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and even speaking the creature's name can cause upset among older island residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying industry where (to save space) extracted stones that were not fit for sale were set aside in what became tall, unstable walls. The local rabbits' tendency to burrow there would weaken the walls and their collapse resulted in injuries or even death. Thus, invoking the name of the culprit became an unlucky act to be avoided. In the local culture to this day, the rabbit (when he has to be referred to) may instead be called a “long ears” or “underground mutton”, so as not to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself.[84]

In other parts of Britain and in North America, invoking the rabbit's name may instead bring good luck. "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is one variant of an apotropaic or talismanic superstition that involves saying or repeating the word "rabbit" (or "rabbits" or "white rabbits" or some combination thereof) out loud upon waking on the first day of each month, because doing so will ensure good fortune for the duration of that month.[85]

The "rabbit test" is a term, first used in 1949, for the Friedman test, an early diagnostic tool for detecting a pregnancy in humans. It is a common misconception (or perhaps an urban legend) that the test-rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" becoming a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test.[86]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ This genus is considered a hare, not a rabbit

Citations

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Further reading

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rabbits.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Rabbit.
 
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Rabbit".
  • American Rabbit Breeders Association organization, which promotes all phases of rabbit keeping
  • House Rabbit Society an activist organization that promotes keeping rabbits indoors

July 14, 2023
rabbit, bunny, redirects, here, other, uses, bunny, disambiguation, disambiguation, also, known, bunnies, bunny, rabbits, small, mammals, family, leporidae, which, also, contains, hares, order, lagomorpha, which, also, contains, pikas, oryctolagus, cuniculus, . Bunny redirects here For other uses see Bunny disambiguation and Rabbit disambiguation Rabbits also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae which also contains the hares of the order Lagomorpha which also contains the pikas Oryctolagus cuniculus includes the European rabbit species and its descendants the world s 305 breeds 1 of domestic rabbit Sylvilagus includes 13 wild rabbit species among them the seven types of cottontail The European rabbit which has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica is familiar throughout the world as a wild prey animal and as a domesticated form of livestock and pet With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures the rabbit is in many areas of the world a part of daily life as food clothing a companion and a source of artistic inspiration RabbitTemporal range Late Eocene Holocene 53 0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg NEuropean rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass MammaliaOrder LagomorphaFamily LeporidaeIncluded generaPentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus PoelagusAlthough once considered rodents lagomorphs like rabbits have been discovered to have diverged separately and earlier than their rodent cousins and have a number of traits rodents lack like two extra incisors Contents 1 Terminology and etymology 2 Taxonomy 2 1 Differences from hares 2 2 Domestication 3 Biology 3 1 Evolution 3 2 Morphology 3 3 Hind limb elements 3 3 1 Musculature 3 4 Ears 3 4 1 Outer ear 3 4 2 Middle ear 3 4 3 Inner ear 3 5 Dewlaps 3 6 Thermoregulation 3 7 Respiratory system 3 8 Digestion 3 9 Reproduction 3 10 Sleep 3 11 Diseases and immunity 4 Ecology 4 1 Habitat and range 4 2 Environmental problems 5 As food and clothing 6 In art literature and culture 6 1 Folklore 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Notes 8 2 Citations 9 Further reading 10 External linksTerminology and etymologyA male rabbit is called a buck a female is called a doe An older term for an adult rabbit used until the 18th century is coney derived ultimately from the Latin cuniculus while rabbit once referred only to the young animals 2 Another term for a young rabbit is bunny though this term is often applied informally particularly by children to rabbits generally especially domestic ones More recently the term kit or kitten has been used to refer to a young rabbit A group of rabbits is known as a colony or nest or occasionally a warren though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live 3 A group of baby rabbits produced from a single mating is referred to as a litter 4 and a group of domestic rabbits living together is sometimes called a herd 5 The word rabbit itself derives from the Middle English rabet a borrowing from the Walloon robete which was a diminutive of the French or Middle Dutch robbe 6 TaxonomySee also List of leporids Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the order Rodentia rodent until 1912 when they were moved into a new order Lagomorpha which also includes pikas Below are some of the genera and species of the rabbit Brachylagus idahoensisPygmy rabbit Nesolagus netscheriSumatran Striped Rabbit Model Oryctolagus cuniculusEuropean rabbit Feral Tasmanian specimen Pentalagus furnessiAmami rabbit Taxidermy specimen Romerolagus diaziVolcano rabbit Taxidermy specimen Sylvilagus aquaticusSwamp rabbit Juvenile Sylvilagus auduboniiDesert cottontail Sylvilagus bachmaniBrush rabbit Sylvilagus brasiliensisTapeti Taxidermy specimen Sylvilagus floridanusEastern cottontailOrder Lagomorpha Family Leporidae in part Genus Brachylagus Pygmy rabbit Brachylagus idahoensis Genus Bunolagus Bushman rabbit Bunolagus monticularis Genus Lepus a Genus Nesolagus Sumatran striped rabbit Nesolagus netscheri Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi Genus Oryctolagus European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus Genus Pentalagus Amami rabbit Ryukyu rabbit Pentalagus furnessi Genus Poelagus Central African Rabbit Poelagus marjorita Genus Romerolagus Volcano rabbit Romerolagus diazi Genus Sylvilagus Swamp rabbit Sylvilagus aquaticus Desert cottontail Sylvilagus audubonii Brush rabbit Sylvilagus bachmani Forest rabbit Sylvilagus brasiliensis Mexican cottontail Sylvilagus cunicularis Dice s cottontail Sylvilagus dicei Eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus Tres Marias rabbit Sylvilagus graysoni Omilteme cottontail Sylvilagus insonus San Jose brush rabbit Sylvilagus mansuetus Mountain cottontail Sylvilagus nuttallii Marsh rabbit Sylvilagus palustris New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis Differences from hares Main article Hare HareJohann Daniel Meyer 1748 RabbitJohann Daniel Meyer 1748 The term rabbit is typically used for all Leporidae species excluding the genus Lepus Members of that genus are instead known as hares or jackrabbits Lepus species are typically precocial born relatively mature and mobile with hair and good vision while rabbit species are altricial born hairless and blind and requiring closer care Hares live a relatively solitary life in a simple nest above the ground while most rabbits live in social groups in burrows or warrens Hares are generally larger than rabbits with ears that are more elongated and with hind legs that are larger and longer Descendants of the European rabbit are commonly bred as livestock and kept as pets whereas no hares have been domesticated the breed called the Belgian hare is actually a domestic rabbit which has been selectively bred to resemble a hare Domestication Main article Domestic rabbit Rabbits have long been domesticated Beginning in the Middle Ages the European rabbit has been widely kept as livestock starting in ancient Rome Selective breeding has generated a wide variety of rabbit breeds of which many since the early 19th century are also kept as pets Some strains of rabbit have been bred specifically as research subjects As livestock rabbits are bred for their meat and fur The earliest breeds were important sources of meat and so became larger than wild rabbits but domestic rabbits in modern times range in size from dwarf to giant Rabbit fur prized for its softness can be found in a broad range of coat colors and patterns as well as lengths The Angora rabbit breed for example was developed for its long silky fur which is often hand spun into yarn Other domestic rabbit breeds have been developed primarily for the commercial fur trade including the Rex which has a short plush coat Biology Wax models showing the development of the rabbit heartEvolution Because the rabbit s epiglottis is engaged over the soft palate except when swallowing the rabbit is an obligate nasal breather Rabbits have two sets of incisor teeth one behind the other This way they can be distinguished from rodents with which they are often confused 7 Carl Linnaeus originally grouped rabbits and rodents under the class Glires later they were separated as the scientific consensus is that many of their similarities were a result of convergent evolution Recent DNA analysis and the discovery of a common ancestor has supported the view that they share a common lineage so rabbits and rodents are now often grouped together in the superorder Glires 8 Morphology Skeleton of the rabbitSince speed and agility are a rabbit s main defenses against predators including the swift fox rabbits have large hind leg bones and well developed musculature Though plantigrade at rest rabbits are on their toes while running assuming a more digitigrade posture Rabbits use their strong claws for digging and along with their teeth for defense 9 Each front foot has four toes plus a dewclaw Each hind foot has four toes but no dewclaw 10 Melanistic coloringOryctologus cuniculusEuropean rabbit wild Most wild rabbits especially compared to hares have relatively full egg shaped bodies The soft coat of the wild rabbit is agouti in coloration or rarely melanistic which aids in camouflage The tail of the rabbit with the exception of the cottontail species is dark on top and white below Cottontails have white on the top of their tails 11 As a result of the position of the eyes in its skull the rabbit has a field of vision that encompasses nearly 360 degrees with just a small blind spot at the bridge of the nose 12 Hind limb elements This image comes from a specimen in the Pacific Lutheran University natural history collection It displays all of the skeletal articulations of rabbit s hind limbs The anatomy of rabbits hind limbs are structurally similar to that of other land mammals and contribute to their specialized form of locomotion The bones of the hind limbs consist of long bones the femur tibia fibula and phalanges as well as short bones the tarsals These bones are created through endochondral ossification during development Like most land mammals the round head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum of the os coxae The femur articulates with the tibia but not the fibula which is fused to the tibia The tibia and fibula articulate with the tarsals of the pes commonly called the foot The hind limbs of the rabbit are longer than the front limbs This allows them to produce their hopping form of locomotion Longer hind limbs are more capable of producing faster speeds Hares which have longer legs than cottontail rabbits are able to move considerably faster 13 Rabbits stay just on their toes when moving this is called Digitigrade locomotion The hind feet have four long toes that allow for this and are webbed to prevent them from spreading when hopping 14 Rabbits do not have paw pads on their feet like most other animals that use digitigrade locomotion Instead they have coarse compressed hair that offers protection 15 Musculature The rabbit s hind limb lateral view includes muscles involved in the quadriceps and hamstrings Rabbits have muscled hind legs that allow for maximum force maneuverability and acceleration that is divided into three main parts foot thigh and leg The hind limbs of a rabbit are an exaggerated feature They are much longer than the forelimbs providing more force Rabbits run on their toes to gain the optimal stride during locomotion The force put out by the hind limbs is contributed to both the structural anatomy of the fusion tibia and fibula and muscular features 16 Bone formation and removal from a cellular standpoint is directly correlated to hind limb muscles Action pressure from muscles creates force that is then distributed through the skeletal structures Rabbits that generate less force putting less stress on bones are more prone to osteoporosis due to bone rarefaction 17 In rabbits the more fibers in a muscle the more resistant to fatigue For example hares have a greater resistance to fatigue than cottontails The muscles of rabbit s hind limbs can be classified into four main categories hamstrings quadriceps dorsiflexors or plantar flexors The quadriceps muscles are in charge of force production when jumping Complementing these muscles are the hamstrings which aid in short bursts of action These muscles play off of one another in the same way as the plantar flexors and dorsiflexors contributing to the generation and actions associated with force 18 Ears Anatomy of mammalian ear A Holland Lop resting with one ear up and one ear down Some rabbits can adjust their ears to hear distant sounds Within the order lagomorphs the ears are utilized to detect and avoid predators In the family Leporidae the ears are typically longer than they are wide For example in black tailed jack rabbits their long ears cover a greater surface area relative to their body size that allow them to detect predators from far away Contrasted to cotton tailed rabbits their ears are smaller and shorter requiring predators to be closer to detect them before they can flee Evolution has favored rabbits having shorter ears so the larger surface area does not cause them to lose heat in more temperate regions The opposite can be seen in rabbits that live in hotter climates mainly because they possess longer ears that have a larger surface area that help with dispersion of heat as well as the theory that sound does not travel well in more arid air opposed to cooler air Therefore longer ears are meant to aid the organism in detecting predators sooner rather than later in warmer temperatures 19 page needed The rabbit is characterized by its shorter ears while hares are characterized by their longer ears 20 page needed Rabbits ears are an important structure to aid thermoregulation and detect predators due to how the outer middle and inner ear muscles coordinate with one another The ear muscles also aid in maintaining balance and movement when fleeing predators 21 Outer ear The auricle also known as the pinna is a rabbit s outer ear 22 The rabbit s pinnae represent a fair part of the body surface area It is theorized that the ears aid in dispersion of heat at temperatures above 30 C with rabbits in warmer climates having longer pinnae due to this Another theory is that the ears function as shock absorbers that could aid and stabilize rabbit s vision when fleeing predators but this has typically only been seen in hares 23 page needed The rest of the outer ear has bent canals that lead to the eardrum or tympanic membrane 24 Middle ear The middle ear is filled with three bones called ossicles and is separated by the outer eardrum in the back of the rabbit s skull The three ossicles are called hammer anvil and stirrup and act to decrease sound before it hits the inner ear In general the ossicles act as a barrier to the inner ear for sound energy 24 Inner ear Inner ear fluid called endolymph receives the sound energy After receiving the energy later within the inner ear there are two parts the cochlea that utilizes sound waves from the ossicles and the vestibular apparatus that manages the rabbit s position in regards to movement Within the cochlea there is a basilar membrane that contains sensory hair structures utilized to send nerve signals to the brain so it can recognize different sound frequencies Within the vestibular apparatus the rabbit possesses three semicircular canals to help detect angular motion 24 Dewlaps A dewlap is a secondary sex characteristic in rabbits caused by the presence of female sex hormones They develop with puberty A female rabbit who has been neutered before reaching sexual maturity will not develop a dewlap and even if a doe is neutered after developing a dewlap the dewlap will gradually disappear over several months This also aligns with the results of injecting male rabbits with female sex hormones specifically the ones from pregnant women s urine The male rabbits developed dewlaps which then gradually disappeared once administration had ceased 25 This is not the process of the rabbit test a common way to test for human female pregnancy in the 20th century the pregnancy test involve dissecting female rabbits after injection with urine to see if their ovaries had enlarged 26 While it is unclear exactly what function a dewlap performs pregnant female rabbits will pluck fur from their dewlaps shortly before giving birth to line a nest for their young 27 Thermoregulation Rabbits use their large vascularized ears which aid in thermoregulation to keep their body temperature at an optimal level Thermoregulation is the process that an organism utilizes to maintain an optimal body temperature independent of external conditions 28 This process is carried out by the pinnae which takes up most of the rabbit s body surface and contain a vascular network and arteriovenous shunts 29 In a rabbit the optimal body temperature is around 38 5 40 C 30 If their body temperature exceeds or does not meet this optimal temperature the rabbit must return to homeostasis Homeostasis of body temperature is maintained by the use of their large highly vascularized ears that are able to change the amount of blood flow that passes through the ears Constriction and dilation of blood vessels in the ears are used to control the core body temperature of a rabbit If the core temperature exceeds its optimal temperature greatly blood flow is constricted to limit the amount of blood going through the vessels With this constriction there is only a limited amount of blood that is passing through the ears where ambient heat would be able to heat the blood that is flowing through the ears and therefore increasing the body temperature Constriction is also used when the ambient temperature is much lower than that of the rabbit s core body temperature When the ears are constricted it again limits blood flow through the ears to conserve the optimal body temperature of the rabbit If the ambient temperature is either 15 degrees above or below the optimal body temperature the blood vessels will dilate With the blood vessels being enlarged the blood is able to pass through the large surface area causing it to either heat or cool down During hot summers the rabbit has the capability to stretch its pinnae which allows for greater surface area and increase heat dissipation In cold winters the rabbit does the opposite and folds its ears in order to decrease its surface area to the ambient air which would decrease their body temperature The jackrabbit has the largest ears within the Oryctolagus cuniculus group Their ears contribute to 17 of their total body surface area Their large pinna were evolved to maintain homeostasis while in the extreme temperatures of the desert Respiratory system Ventral view of dissected rabbit lungs with key structures labeled The rabbit s nasal cavity lies dorsal to the oral cavity and the two compartments are separated by the hard and soft palate 31 The nasal cavity itself is separated into a left and right side by a cartilage barrier and it is covered in fine hairs that trap dust before it can enter the respiratory tract 31 32 page needed As the rabbit breathes air flows in through the nostrils along the alar folds From there the air moves into the nasal cavity also known as the nasopharynx down through the trachea through the larynx and into the lungs 32 page needed 33 The larynx functions as the rabbit s voice box which enables it to produce a wide variety of sounds 32 page needed The trachea is a long tube embedded with cartilaginous rings that prevent the tube from collapsing as air moves in and out of the lungs The trachea then splits into a left and right bronchus which meet the lungs at a structure called the hilum From there the bronchi split into progressively more narrow and numerous branches The bronchi branch into bronchioles into respiratory bronchioles and ultimately terminate at the alveolar ducts The branching that is typically found in rabbit lungs is a clear example of monopodial branching in which smaller branches divide out laterally from a larger central branch 34 The structure of the rabbit s nasal and oral cavities necessitates breathing through the nose This is due to the fact that the epiglottis is fixed to the backmost portion of the soft palate 33 Within the oral cavity a layer of tissue sits over the opening of the glottis which blocks airflow from the oral cavity to the trachea 31 The epiglottis functions to prevent the rabbit from aspirating on its food Further the presence of a soft and hard palate allow the rabbit to breathe through its nose while it feeds 32 page needed Monopodial branching as seen in dissected rabbit lungs Rabbits lungs are divided into four lobes the cranial middle caudal and accessory lobes The right lung is made up of all four lobes while the left lung only has two the cranial and caudal lobes 34 In order to provide space for the heart the left cranial lobe of the lungs is significantly smaller than that of the right 31 The diaphragm is a muscular structure that lies caudal to the lungs and contracts to facilitate respiration 31 33 Digestion This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass and other leafy plants Consequently their diet contains large amounts of cellulose which is hard to digest Rabbits solve this problem via a form of hindgut fermentation They pass two distinct types of feces hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets the latter of which are known as caecotrophs or night droppings 35 and are immediately eaten a behaviour known as coprophagy Rabbits reingest their own droppings rather than chewing the cud as do cows and numerous other herbivores to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients 36 Rabbits graze heavily and rapidly for roughly the first half hour of a grazing period usually in the late afternoon followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding citation needed In this time the rabbit will also excrete many hard fecal pellets being waste pellets that will not be reingested citation needed If the environment is relatively non threatening the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours grazing at intervals citation needed While out of the burrow the rabbit will occasionally reingest its soft partially digested pellets this is rarely observed since the pellets are reingested as they are produced citation needed Hard pellets are made up of hay like fragments of plant cuticle and stalk being the final waste product after redigestion of soft pellets These are only released outside the burrow and are not reingested Soft pellets are usually produced several hours after grazing after the hard pellets have all been excreted citation needed They are made up of micro organisms and undigested plant cell walls citation needed Rabbits are hindgut digesters This means that most of their digestion takes place in their large intestine and cecum In rabbits the cecum is about 10 times bigger than the stomach and it along with the large intestine makes up roughly 40 of the rabbit s digestive tract 37 The unique musculature of the cecum allows the intestinal tract of the rabbit to separate fibrous material from more digestible material the fibrous material is passed as feces while the more nutritious material is encased in a mucous lining as a cecotrope Cecotropes sometimes called night feces are high in minerals vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit s health Rabbits eat these to meet their nutritional requirements the mucous coating allows the nutrients to pass through the acidic stomach for digestion in the intestines This process allows rabbits to extract the necessary nutrients from their food 38 The chewed plant material collects in the large cecum a secondary chamber between the large and small intestine containing large quantities of symbiotic bacteria that help with the digestion of cellulose and also produce certain B vitamins The pellets are about 56 bacteria by dry weight largely accounting for the pellets being 24 4 protein on average The soft feces form here and contain up to five times the vitamins of hard feces After being excreted they are eaten whole by the rabbit and redigested in a special part of the stomach The pellets remain intact for up to six hours in the stomach the bacteria within continue to digest the plant carbohydrates This double digestion process enables rabbits to use nutrients that they may have missed during the first passage through the gut as well as the nutrients formed by the microbial activity and thus ensures that maximum nutrition is derived from the food they eat 11 This process serves the same purpose in the rabbit as rumination does in cattle and sheep 39 Dissected image of the male rabbit reproductive system with key structures labeledBecause rabbits cannot vomit 40 if buildup occurs within the intestines due often to a diet with insufficient fibre 41 intestinal blockage can occur 42 Reproduction Diagram of the male rabbit reproductive system with main components labeledThe adult male reproductive system forms the same as most mammals with the seminiferous tubular compartment containing the Sertoli cells and an adluminal compartment that contains the Leydig cells 43 The Leydig cells produce testosterone which maintains libido 43 and creates secondary sex characteristics such as the genital tubercle and penis The Sertoli cells triggers the production of Anti Mullerian duct hormone which absorbs the Mullerian duct In an adult male rabbit the sheath of the penis is cylinder like and can be extruded as early as two months of age 44 The scrotal sacs lay lateral to the penis and contain epididymal fat pads which protect the testes Between 10 and 14 weeks the testes descend and are able to retract into the pelvic cavity in order to thermoregulate 44 Furthermore the secondary sex characteristics such as the testes are complex and secrete many compounds These compounds include fructose citric acid minerals and a uniquely high amount of catalase 43 Diagram of the female rabbit reproductive system with main components labeled The adult female reproductive tract is bipartite which prevents an embryo from translocating between uteri 45 The two uterine horns communicate to two cervixes and forms one vaginal canal Along with being bipartite the female rabbit does not go through an estrus cycle which causes mating induced ovulation 44 The average female rabbit becomes sexually mature at three to eight months of age and can conceive at any time of the year for the duration of her life Egg and sperm production can begin to decline after three years 43 During mating the male rabbit will mount the female rabbit from behind and insert his penis into the female and make rapid pelvic hip thrusts The encounter lasts only 20 40 seconds and after the male will throw himself backwards off the female 46 The rabbit gestation period is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days with an average period of 31 days A longer gestation period will generally yield a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods will give birth to a larger litter The size of a single litter can range from four to 12 kits allowing a female to deliver up to 60 new kits a year After birth the female can become pregnant again as early as the next day 44 After mating hormonal changes will cause the doe to begin to dig a burrow for her nest about a week before giving birth Between three days and a few hours before giving birth another series of hormonal changes will cause her to prepare the nest structure The doe will first gather grass for a structure and an elevation in prolactin shortly before birth will cause her fur to shed that the doe will then use to line the nest providing insulation for the newborn kits 47 The mortality rates of embryos are high in rabbits and can be due to infection trauma poor nutrition and environmental stress so a high fertility rate is necessary to counter this 44 Sleep Further information Sleep non human Rabbits may appear to be crepuscular but their natural inclination is toward nocturnal activity 48 In 2011 the average sleep time of a rabbit in captivity was calculated at 8 4 hours per day 49 As with other prey animals rabbits often sleep with their eyes open so that sudden movements will awaken the rabbit to respond to potential danger 50 Diseases and immunity See also Category Rabbit diseases In addition to being at risk of disease from common pathogens such as Bordetella bronchiseptica and Escherichia coli rabbits can contract the virulent species specific viruses RHD rabbit hemorrhagic disease a form of calicivirus 51 or myxomatosis Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms such as Taenia serialis external parasites including fleas and mites coccidia species and Toxoplasma gondii 52 53 Domesticated rabbits with a diet lacking in high fiber sources such as hay and grass are susceptible to potentially lethal gastrointestinal stasis 54 Rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans 55 Encephalitozoon cuniculi an obligate intracellular parasite is also capable of infecting many mammals including rabbits Rabbit immunity has significantly diverged from other tetrapods in the manner it employs immunoglobulin light chains 56 57 In one case McCartney Francis et al 1984 discover a unique additional disulfide bond between Cys 80 in Vk and Cys 171 in Ck 56 57 They suggest that this may serve to stabilise rabbit antibodies 56 57 Meanwhile IGKC1 shows high amino acid divergence between domesticated types and ferals derived from them 57 This can be as high as 40 57 Rabbit hemorrhagic disease is caused by strains of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus RHDV including type 2 RHDV2 58 RHDV2 was detected for the first time in Washington state US in May 2022 and then in August once in Washington and twice in Oregon 59 Ecology Rabbit kits one hour after birthRabbits are prey animals and are therefore constantly aware of their surroundings For instance in Mediterranean Europe rabbits are the main prey of red foxes badgers and Iberian lynxes 60 If confronted by a potential threat a rabbit may freeze and observe then warn others in the warren with powerful thumps on the ground Rabbits have a remarkably wide field of vision and a good deal of it is devoted to overhead scanning 61 The doe mother is aware that she gives off scent which can attract predators so she will stay away from the nest to avoid putting the kits babies in danger returning the nest only a few times a day to feed the kits 62 Rabbits survive predation by burrowing hopping away in a zig zag motion and if captured delivering powerful kicks with their hind legs Their strong teeth allow them to eat and to bite in order to escape a struggle 63 The longest lived rabbit on record a domesticated European rabbit living in Tasmania died at age 18 64 The lifespan of wild rabbits is much shorter the average longevity of an eastern cottontail for instance is less than one year 65 Habitat and range Domestic rabbit photographed at Alligator Bay Beauvoir France Rabbit habitats include meadows woods forests grasslands deserts and wetlands 66 Rabbits live in groups and the best known species the European rabbit lives in burrows or rabbit holes A group of burrows is called a warren 66 More than half the world s rabbit population resides in North America 66 They are also native to southwestern Europe Southeast Asia Sumatra some islands of Japan and in parts of Africa and South America They are not naturally found in most of Eurasia where a number of species of hares are present Rabbits first entered South America relatively recently as part of the Great American Interchange Much of the continent has just one species of rabbit the tapeti while most of South America s southern cone is without rabbits The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the world 11 A recent study found that the so called Chinese rabbits were introduced from Europe Genetic diversity in Chinese rabbits was very low 67 Rabbits have been launched into space orbit 68 Environmental problems See also Rabbits in Australia Impact of rabbit proof fence Cobar New South Wales 1905Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans As a result of their appetites and the rate at which they breed feral rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture Gassing fumigation of warrens 69 barriers fences shooting snaring and ferreting have been used to control rabbit populations but the most effective measures are diseases such as myxomatosis myxo or mixi colloquially and calicivirus In Europe where rabbits are farmed on a large scale they are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus with a genetically modified virus The virus was developed in Spain and is beneficial to rabbit farmers If it were to make its way into wild populations in areas such as Australia it could create a population boom as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival Rabbits in Australia and New Zealand are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them 70 71 Rabbits are known to be able to catch fire and spread wildfires but the efficiency and relevance of this method has been doubted by forest experts who contend that a rabbit on fire could move some meters 72 73 Knowledge on fire spreading rabbits is based on anecdotes as there is no known scientific investigation on the subject 73 As food and clothingMain article Cuniculture See also Category Rabbit dishes In some areas wild rabbits and hares are hunted for their meat a lean source of high quality protein 74 In the wild such hunting is accomplished with the aid of trained falcons ferrets or dogs as well as with snares or other traps and rifles A caught rabbit may be dispatched with a sharp blow to the back of its head a practice from which the term rabbit punch is derived Wild leporids comprise a small portion of global rabbit meat consumption Domesticated descendants of the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus that are bred and kept as livestock a practice called cuniculture account for the estimated 200 million tons of rabbit meat produced annually 75 Approximately 1 2 billion rabbits are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide 76 In 1994 the countries with the highest consumption per capita of rabbit meat were Malta with 8 89 kg 19 lb 10 oz Italy with 5 71 kg 12 lb 9 oz and Cyprus with 4 37 kg 9 lb 10 oz falling to 0 03 kg 1 oz in Japan The figure for the United States was 0 14 kg 5 oz per capita The largest producers of rabbit meat in 1994 were China Russia Italy France and Spain 77 Rabbit meat was once a common commodity in Sydney Australia but declined after the myxomatosis virus was intentionally introduced to control the exploding population of feral rabbits in the area In the United Kingdom fresh rabbit is sold in butcher shops and markets and some supermarkets sell frozen rabbit meat At farmers markets there including the famous Borough Market in London rabbit carcasses are sometimes displayed hanging unbutchered in the traditional style next to braces of pheasant or other small game Rabbit meat is a feature of Moroccan cuisine where it is cooked in a tajine with raisins and grilled almonds added a few minutes before serving 78 In China rabbit meat is particularly popular in Sichuan cuisine with its stewed rabbit spicy diced rabbit BBQ style rabbit and even spicy rabbit heads which have been compared to spicy duck neck 75 Rabbit meat is comparatively unpopular elsewhere in the Asia Pacific An extremely rare infection associated with rabbits as food is tularemia also known as rabbit fever which may be contracted from an infected rabbit 79 Hunters are at higher risk for tularemia because of the potential for inhaling the bacteria during the skinning process In addition to their meat rabbits are used for their wool fur and pelts as well as their nitrogen rich manure and their high protein milk 80 Production industries have developed domesticated rabbit breeds such as the well known Angora rabbit to efficiently fill these needs In art literature and cultureMain article Rabbits and hares in art This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny The species role as a prey animal with few defenses evokes vulnerability and innocence and in folklore and modern children s stories rabbits often appear as sympathetic characters able to connect easily with youth of all kinds for example the Velveteen Rabbit or Thumper in Bambi With its reputation as a prolific breeder the rabbit juxtaposes sexuality with innocence as in the Playboy Bunny The rabbit as a swift prey animal is also known for its speed agility and endurance symbolized for example by the marketing icons the Energizer Bunny and the Duracell Bunny Folklore Main article List of fictional hares and rabbits The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies In Aztec mythology a pantheon of four hundred rabbit gods known as Centzon Totochtin led by Ometochtli or Two Rabbit represented fertility parties and drunkenness In Central Africa the common hare Kalulu is inevitably described as a trickster figure 81 In Chinese folklore rabbits accompany Chang e on the Moon In the Chinese New Year the zodiacal rabbit is one of the twelve celestial animals in the Chinese zodiac Note that the Vietnamese zodiac includes a zodiacal cat in place of the rabbit possibly because rabbits did not inhabit Vietnam citation needed The most common explanation is that the ancient Vietnamese word for rabbit mao sounds like the Chinese word for cat 卯 mao 82 In Japanese tradition rabbits live on the Moon where they make mochi the popular snack of mashed sticky rice This comes from interpreting the pattern of dark patches on the moon as a rabbit standing on tiptoes on the left pounding on an usu a Japanese mortar In Jewish folklore rabbits shfanim שפנים are associated with cowardice a usage still current in contemporary Israeli spoken Hebrew similar to the English colloquial use of chicken to denote cowardice In Korean mythology as in Japanese rabbits live on the moon making rice cakes Tteok in Korean In Anishinaabe traditional beliefs held by the Ojibwe and some other Native American peoples Nanabozho or Great Rabbit is an important deity related to the creation of the world A Vietnamese mythological story portrays the rabbit of innocence and youthfulness The gods of the myth are shown to be hunting and killing rabbits to show off their power Buddhism Christianity and Judaism have associations with an ancient circular motif called the three rabbits or three hares Its meaning ranges from peace and tranquility to purity or the Holy Trinity to Kabbalistic levels of the soul or to the Jewish diaspora The tripartite symbol also appears in heraldry and even tattoos The rabbit as trickster is a part of American popular culture as Br er Rabbit from African American folktales and later Disney animation and Bugs Bunny the cartoon character from Warner Bros for example Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature in Alice s Adventures in Wonderland the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters in Watership Down including the film and television adaptations in Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson and in the Peter Rabbit stories by Beatrix Potter In the 1920s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a popular cartoon character A rabbit s foot may be carried as an amulet believed to bring protection and good luck This belief is found in many parts of the world with the earliest use being recorded in Europe c 600 BC 83 On the Isle of Portland in Dorset UK the rabbit is said to be unlucky and even speaking the creature s name can cause upset among older island residents This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying industry where to save space extracted stones that were not fit for sale were set aside in what became tall unstable walls The local rabbits tendency to burrow there would weaken the walls and their collapse resulted in injuries or even death Thus invoking the name of the culprit became an unlucky act to be avoided In the local culture to this day the rabbit when he has to be referred to may instead be called a long ears or underground mutton so as not to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself 84 In other parts of Britain and in North America invoking the rabbit s name may instead bring good luck Rabbit rabbit rabbit is one variant of an apotropaic or talismanic superstition that involves saying or repeating the word rabbit or rabbits or white rabbits or some combination thereof out loud upon waking on the first day of each month because doing so will ensure good fortune for the duration of that month 85 The rabbit test is a term first used in 1949 for the Friedman test an early diagnostic tool for detecting a pregnancy in humans It is a common misconception or perhaps an urban legend that the test rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant This led to the phrase the rabbit died becoming a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test 86 Rabbit fools Elephant by showing the reflection of the moon Illustration from 1354 of the Panchatantra Three rabbits motif Coat of arms of Corbenay France Beatrix Potter s Peter Rabbit WWII USAF pilot D R Emerson with a rabbit s foot talisman a gift from a New York girl friend Saint Jerome in the Desert by Taddeo Crivelli died about 1479 Note rabbit being chased by a domesticated hound See 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href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint unfit URL link Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Agriculture and Food Division Pest and Disease Information Service PaDIS Rabbit control fumigation agric wa gov au Government of Western Australia Retrieved 25 September 2021 Feral animals in Australia Invasive species Environment gov au 1 February 2010 Archived from the original on 21 July 2010 Retrieved 30 August 2010 Rabbits The role of government Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand Teara govt nz 1 March 2009 Archived from the original on 12 June 2011 Retrieved 30 August 2010 Jerez Sara 23 February 2023 Es cierto Experto confirma que conejos y otros animales en llamas si pueden propagar incendios Radio Bio Bio in Spanish Retrieved 23 February 2023 a b del Mar Parra Maria 23 February 2023 Experto forestal Los conejos no son un agente significativo de propagacion de incendios El Desconcierto in Spanish Retrieved 23 February 2023 Rabbit From Farm to Table Archived from the original on 5 July 2008 a b Olivia Geng French Rabbit Heads The Newest Delicacy in Chinese Cuisine Archived 14 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Wall Street Journal Blog 13 June 2014 FAOSTAT FAO Retrieved 25 October 2019 FAO The Rabbit Husbandry health and production Archived 23 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Traditional Moroccan Cooking Recipes from Fez by Madame Guinadeau Serif London 2003 ISBN 1 897959 43 5 Tularemia Rabbit fever Health utah gov 16 June 2003 Archived from the original on 26 May 2010 Retrieved 30 August 2010 Houdebine Louis Marie Fan Jianglin 1 June 2009 Rabbit Biotechnology Rabbit Genomics Transgenesis Cloning and Models シュプリンガー ジャパン株式会社 pp 68 72 ISBN 978 90 481 2226 4 Archived from the original on 26 April 2014 Retrieved 26 February 2018 Brian Morris The Power of Animals An Ethnography p 177 2000 Year of the Cat OR Year of the Rabbit nwasianweekly com 3 February 2011 Retrieved 27 February 2018 Ellis Bill 1 January 2004 Lucifer Ascending The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978 0813122892 Wallace and Gromit spook island BBC News 7 October 2005 Retrieved 25 August 2022 Mayntz Melissa 26 April 2019 On the 1st Of The Month Say Rabbit Rabbit for Good luck Farmers Almanac Plan Your Day Grow Your Life Retrieved 27 April 2023 Friedman Maurice 1 May 1939 The Assay of Gonadotropic Extracts in the Post Partum Rabbit11 Endocrinology 24 5 617 625 doi 10 1210 endo 24 5 617 Further readingWindling Terri The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares Usurped External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rabbits Wikiquote has quotations related to Rabbit Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Rabbit American Rabbit Breeders Association organization which promotes all phases of rabbit keeping House Rabbit Society an activist organization that promotes keeping rabbits indoors Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rabbit amp oldid 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