Domestic Rabbit Class: Mammalia

Oryctolagus cuniculus Domestic Rabbit Class: Mammalia. Order: Lagomorpha. Family: Leporidae. Other names:

Physical Description: Today there are more than 50 pedigree breeds of domestic rabbits, all descended from the European wild rabbit. Rabbits and hares have long ears, hind legs that are longer than the front legs, and short tails. There are four upper incisors, the second pair being peg-like and inconspicuous. The five toes on each foot are clawed. Upper lip is split and attached to the nostrils, enabling the nose to be wiggled, which may increase the sense of smell. Eyes are on the side of the head. Appearance depends on breed. 1-16 lbs; typically 3-5lbs in the wild. 12-28”in length depending upon the breed.

Diet in the Wild: Grasses, herbs, leaves, twigs, bark, roots, berries, vegetables and other crops. Wild rye, timothy, winter wheat, and soy beans are important seasonal foods of the Ohio cottontail.

Diet at the Zoo: Timothy grass hay, bunny pellets, sweet potatoes, green beans, romaine, apples, carrots.

Habitat & Range: Swamps, marshes, deserts, woodlands, grasslands, prairies, volcanic slopes, in cities and suburbs; in parts of every continent except Antarctica.

Life Span: About 1 year in the wild, 5-10 years in captivity, varying according to breed.

Perils in the wild: Foxes, dogs, bobcats, coyotes, lynxes, weasels, raccoons, hawks, eagles, ermines, ravens, badgers, owls, alligators, snakes, wolves, dogs, bears, humans.

Physical Adaptations: A rabbit's sense of smell far exceeds human capabilities and is used to monitor the environment for any whiff of predators. When a rabbit smells or hears something alarming, it will sit very still with ears arranged to catch sound from all directions and nose no longer twitching, deciding whether or not an escape effort should be executed. With large, protruding eyes on either side of its head, the rabbit has excellent monocular vision. Monocular vision allows the rabbit to see a wider area, but a disadvantage is that there is no depth perception. Rabbits can see almost 360 º except for a blind spot in front of their face. In up-eared rabbits, each ear can rotate nearly 270º to allow detection of the source of a sound, or even to monitor two sounds at once. Rabbits have 2 pairs of incisors that include a smaller pair behind the main pair. They have no roots and their teeth grow continuously. They are swift runners due to strong hind leg muscles - wild rabbits top out at 29.8mph! Compared to their body size that feels like 119.3mph!!! Strong hind legs also enable rabbits to jump - the world record for the highest rabbit jump is 3.26’. The only place a rabbit sweats is through the pads on its feet. Rabbits are capable of swimming. Marsh rabbits are exceptionally strong swimmers and will use swimming as a primary form of locomotion. 09/04/2012

When a rabbit gets overheated, ear vessels will swell with blood. This is a major part of his temperature-control system. As blood circulates through the ear, heat is given off so that the blood returning to the rest of the body is cooler than when it entered. When a rabbit is in a cold environment and is trying to conserve body heat, ear vessels will constrict to reduce blood flow and thus reduce the amount of heat loss. Rabbits perform a digestive process called caecotrophy (a type of coprophagy) to extract as many nutritients as possible from their food. Food is passed through the gut and special droppings (caecotrophs) are produced. Rabbits eat these caecotrophs, allowing the food to be re-ingested.

Behavioral Adaptations: Crepuscular, rabbits spend their day underground, foraging from evening until morning. They are constantly alert during their waking hours, prepared to run from predators if necessary. In the wild, rabbits live in groups of 6 to 10 adult individuals in large winding burrow systems with tunnels and chambers called warrens. In large groups of rabbits, there is a hierarchical structure; the strongest dominant male and dominant female presides over the colony. The entire colony protects the warren or territory from intruders, including other invading rabbits In North America most cottontails spend the day resting in shallow dens but, if threatened, these rabbits may seek shelter in the abandoned burrows of other animals. Wild rabbits are always found near water. They get all their liquid requirements directly from water sources and will die without it. Rabbits may freeze to avoid detection, and hide in burrows to escape danger. Desert cottontails and the brush rabbit may even climb trees to escape danger. Most wild rabbits are highly camouflaged with their environments.

Reproduction and Development: Different kinds of rabbits mate at different times throughout the year and the number of litters and the size of the litters vary depending upon whether the rabbit lives in a warm or cool climate. Rabbits living in northern regions tend to have fewer litters but more young per litter than those living farther south where they have more but smaller litters. Adult males are called bucks, the females are does, and the young are called kittens (or kits). Males become very aggressive at mating time and may fight by boxing with their forepaws or by striking at each other with their powerful hind feet. Males and females are very affectionate at mating time, licking one another’s ears and head. Females reach maturity at 6 months, and can breed up to 6 years of age. Breeding occurs mostly from February to September. Mating in rabbits is normally promiscuous, though males try to choose certain females. Unlike most mammals, rabbits do not come into estrus. Instead, males induce females to breed, as copulation triggers release of the egg. The doe makes an underground nest with straw, vegetation and fur plucked from her underside. After a gestation of 28-34 days, the doe gives birth to a litter of 4-8 young. Baby rabbits are totally blind and have little hair at birth. A doe spends little time with her young, feeding them once or twice in a 24-hour period. This prevents detection of the kits by various predators. Young rabbits develop rapidly, although born naked; they form a soft baby coat of hair within a few days. Kits’ eyes open after 12-14 days. Within 3 weeks, they may leave the nest, and can eat solid food and drink water.

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At about 6 weeks of age, they no longer nurse from the mother and the soft baby coat is replaced with a pre-adult coat. At about 6 to 8 months of age the rabbits are fully grown and their intermediate coat is replaced by the final adult coat, which is shed twice a year thereafter. Wild does typically breed twice a year, but are capable of having up to 12 litters in the same time frame, allowing rabbit populations to grow very quickly.

Additional Information: Rabbits and hares are not the same species. Hares do not dig burrows, have longer gestation periods, and give birth to young that have their eyes open and can run within minutes. Hares also tend to be more solitary after reaching adulthood. Although rabbits were raised by the Romans for meat, true domestication does not appear to have taken place until the Middle Ages, when they were raised for meat and considered farm animals. No group of mammals has established its place in American folklore as firmly as the rabbit. They are prominent in fairy tales, cartoons, and stories; Brer Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and Peter Cottontail, and the Easter Bunny. Many superstitious individuals carry a rabbit’s foot for luck. Male rabbits and hares become sexually active about a month prior to the breeding season and before the females are receptive. The leaping, cavorting antics of these eager males may account for the expression, “mad as a March hare.” In the mid-1800s, rabbits escaped from a rabbitry, and more than 20 million rabbits spread throughout Australia. They destroyed native plants, ate farm produce, and damaged grazing lands. People try to control, confine, or exterminate rabbits in countries all over the world. During the early periods of world exploration rabbits were released on uninhabited islands with the hope of creating a food source for crews of sailing vessels which might visit or become shipwrecked on the islands. Others were released in settled areas for sport hunting. In most parts of the world its introduction is now viewed as a disaster, especially in Australia and New Zealand. Since there were no natural predators, the vast new rabbit populations caused widespread destruction of vegetation and seriously harmed the sheep-raising industry. In addition, a number of native Australian marsupial species have been endangered or totally eliminated through competition with or habitat destruction by the Old World rabbit. Some parts of Australia do not permit the general keeping of rabbits as pets.

Conservation Status: IUCN lists at least 13 species of rabbits and hares as endangered, threatened or vulnerable including the pygmy rabbit and the New England cottontail, as their relatively small ranges are slowly being eliminated by man. Domestic Rabbit – not assessed.

Conservation Efforts: N/A

Glossary: List of definitions of the most important recurrent technical terms used in the text.

Caecotrophy – a kind of coprophagy, common in rabbits and certain mammals, of ingesting waste pellets (feces/excrement), for nutritional purposes.

Caecotrophs – soft droppings that are expelled and re-eaten.

Coprophagy – the ingestion of feces/excrement, regardless of purpose.

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Crepuscular – active at dusk and dawn.

Estrus – the period of heat, or rut, especially of the female during ovulation of the eggs. Associated with maximum sexual receptivity.

Incisors – a sharp-edged tooth in mammals that is adapted for cutting or gnawing, located at the front of the mouth between the canine teeth.

Promiscuous – a mating system employed by many animals, where males and females mate randomly with multiple partners. Encompasses polyandry (one female mates with multiple males) and polygany (one male mates with multiple females).

Sources: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-livestock/rabbits/rabbit-stats.aspx http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1874#.UQFzH_IxqQA http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-11/ear.html http://www.speedofanimals.com/animals/rabbit http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-2000/highest-jump-by-a-rabbit/ http://www.sophisticatededge.com/can-rabbits-swim.html#.UQF8r_IxqQA

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