Baby Bunnies and Cute Animals Baby Black Hollend Lop Ears

Mammals of the family unit Leporidae

Rabbit Temporal range: Late Eocene–Holocene, 53–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J Thousand Pg North
European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Lagomorpha
Family:	Leporidae (in part)
Genera
Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus

Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are pocket-size mammals in the family unit 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'south 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 consequence on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, article of clothing, a companion, and a source of artistic inspiration.

Although once considered rodents, lagomorphs similar rabbits have been discovered to accept diverged separately and before than their rodent cousins and have a number of traits rodents lack, like 2 extra incisors.

Terminology and etymology

Male rabbits are called bucks; females are called does. An older term for an adult rabbit used until the 18th century is coney (derived ultimately from the Latin cuniculus ), while rabbit one time referred merely to the young animals.^[2] Some other term for a immature rabbit is bunny, though this term is often applied informally (peculiarly by children) to rabbits by and large, particularly domestic ones. More recently, the term kit or kitten has been used to refer to a immature 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 grouping of baby rabbits produced from a single mating is referred to as a litter ^[4] and a grouping 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

Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the lodge Rodentia (rodent) until 1912, when they were moved into a new social club, 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

  Castor rabbit

• 

  Sylvilagus brasiliensis

  Tapeti

  (Taxidermy specimen)

• 

  Sylvilagus palustris hefneri

  Lower Keys marsh rabbit

• Order 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/Ryūkyū 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
  • Castor rabbit, Sylvilagus bachmani
  • Forest rabbit, Sylvilagus brasiliensis
  • Mexican cottontail, Sylvilagus cunicularis
  • Die'south cottontail, Sylvilagus dicei
  • Eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus
  • Tres Marias rabbit, Sylvilagus graysoni
  • Omilteme cottontail, Sylvilagus insonus
  • San Jose castor rabbit, Sylvilagus mansuetus
  • Mount cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii
  • Marsh rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris
  • New England cottontail, Sylvilagus transitionalis

Hare

Johann Daniel Meyer (1748)

Rabbit

Johann Daniel Meyer (1748)

Differences from hares

Main article: Hare

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 pilus and adept vision, while other rabbit species are altricial, built-in hairless and blind, and requiring closer care. Hares live a relatively solitary life in a simple nest in a higher place the ground, while most other rabbits live in social groups in burrows or warrens. Hares are generally larger than other rabbits, with ears that are more than elongated, and with hind legs that are larger and longer. Descendants of the European rabbit are usually bred as livestock and kept as pets, whereas no hares have been domesticated - the breed chosen the Belgian hare is a domestic rabbit which has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.

Domestication

Rabbits take 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 broad multifariousness of rabbit breeds, of which many (since the early on 19th century) are also kept every bit pets. Some strains of rabbit accept been bred specifically as inquiry subjects.

Every bit livestock, rabbits are bred for their meat and fur. The earliest breeds were important sources of meat, and so became larger than wild rabbits, simply domestic rabbits in modernistic times range in size from dwarf to behemothic. Rabbit fur, prized for its softness, can be found in a wide range of coat colors and patterns, also every bit lengths. The Angora rabbit breed, for case, was developed for its long, silky fur, which is often mitt-spun into yarn. Other domestic rabbit breeds have been developed primarily for the commercial fur merchandise, including the Rex, which has a short costly coat.

Biology

Evolution

Evolution of the rabbit middle

(wax models)

Considering the rabbit'south 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 exist distinguished from rodents, with which they are often confused.^[7] Carl Linnaeus originally grouped rabbits and rodents under the class Glires; later on, they were separated as the scientific consensus is that many of their similarities were a consequence of convergent evolution. All the same, recent DNA analysis and the discovery of a mutual ancestor has supported the view that they do share a common lineage, and thus rabbits and rodents are now often referred to together as members of the superorder Glires.^[eight]

Morphology

Since speed and agility are a rabbit'southward main defenses confronting predators (including the swift fox), rabbits have large hind leg basic 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 earthworks and (along with their teeth) for defense force.^[9] Each front foot has four toes plus a dewclaw. Each hind foot has four toes (but no dewclaw).^[ten]

Melanistic coloring

Oryctologus cuniculusEuropean rabbit (wild)

Virtually 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 summit and white below. Cottontails have white on the top of their tails.^[eleven]

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 pocket-sized blind spot at the bridge of the olfactory organ.^[12]

Hind limb elements

This prototype comes from a specimen in the Pacific Lutheran Academy 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 course of locomotion. The bones of the hind limbs consist of long bones (the femur, tibia, fibula, and phalanges) too as short basic (the tarsals). These bones are created through endochondral ossification during development. Like virtually land mammals, the round head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum of the ox coxae. The femur articulates with the tibia, but non the fibula, which is fused to the tibia. The tibia and fibula articulate with the tarsals of the pes, commonly chosen the human 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 4 long toes that let for this and are webbed to forbid them from spreading when hopping.^[xiv] Rabbits exercise non take paw pads on their feet like most other animals that use digitigrade locomotion. Instead, they have fibroid compressed hair that offers protection.^[15]

Musculature

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

Rabbits take muscled hind legs that allow for maximum force, maneuverability, and acceleration that is divided into three main parts; human foot, thigh, and leg. The hind limbs of a rabbit are an exaggerated characteristic. They are much longer than the forelimbs, providing more forcefulness. Rabbits run on their toes to proceeds the optimal pace during locomotion. The forcefulness put out past the hind limbs is contributed to both the structural anatomy of the fusion tibia and fibula, and muscular features.^[sixteen] Os 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 forcefulness, putting less stress on bones are more than prone to osteoporosis due to os rarefaction.^[17] In rabbits, the more than fibers in a muscle, the more than resistant to fatigue. For case, hares have a greater resistance to fatigue than cottontails. The muscles of rabbit's hind limbs can be classified into four chief categories: hamstrings, quadriceps, dorsiflexors, or plantar flexors. The quadriceps muscles are in accuse of force production when jumping. Complementing these muscles are the hamstrings, which aid in curt bursts of action. These muscles play off of one another in the same fashion as the plantar flexors and dorsiflexors, contributing to the generation and actions associated with force.^[18]

Ears

A Holland Lop resting with ane ear up and i ear downwardly. Some rabbits tin adjust their ears to hear afar sounds.

Within the order lagomorphs, the ears are utilized to detect and avert 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 permit 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 tin flee. Evolution has favored rabbits having shorter ears and so the larger area does non 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 accept a larger surface surface area that help with dispersion of oestrus equally well as the theory that sound does not travel well in more than arid air, opposed to libation air. Therefore, longer ears are meant to aid the organism in detecting predators sooner rather than later in warmer temperatures.^{[xix] [ folio needed ]} The rabbit is characterized past its shorter ears while hares are characterized past their longer ears.^{[xx] [ page needed ]} Rabbits' ears are an important construction to aid thermoregulation and detect predators due to how the outer, middle, and inner ear muscles coordinate with one some other. The ear muscles besides help in maintaining residue and movement when fleeing predators.^[21]

Outer ear

The auricle, also known as the pinna, is a rabbit's outer ear.^[22] The rabbit'south pinnae represent a fair part of the trunk area. It is theorized that the ears assist 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 equally shock absorbers that could aid and stabilize rabbit'southward vision when fleeing predators, but this has typically only been seen in hares.^{[23] [ folio needed ]} The residual of the outer ear has bent canals that lead to the eardrum or tympanic membrane.^[24]

Eye ear

The middle ear is filled with three bones called ossicles and is separated past the outer eardrum in the back of the rabbit'southward skull. The iii ossicles are called hammer, anvil, and stirrup and act to decrease audio before information technology hits the inner ear. In general, the ossicles deed as a bulwark to the inner ear for sound free energy.^[24]

Inner ear

Inner ear fluid called endolymph receives the sound free energy. After receiving the energy, later inside 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. Inside the cochlea at that place is a basilar membrane that contains sensory hair structures utilized to send nerve signals to the brain so it can recognize different audio frequencies. Inside the vestibular apparatus the rabbit possesses three semicircular canals to help discover angular motion.^[24]

Thermoregulation

Thermoregulation is the process that an organism utilizes to maintain an optimal trunk temperature independent of external conditions.^[25] This process is carried out past the pinnae, which takes upwards near of the rabbit'southward trunk surface and contain a vascular network and arteriovenous shunts.^[26] In a rabbit, the optimal torso temperature is around 38.5–twoscore℃.^[27] If their body temperature exceeds or does not see this optimal temperature, the rabbit must return to homeostasis. Homeostasis of body temperature is maintained past the use of their large, highly vascularized ears that are able to alter the amount of claret flow that passes through the ears.

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

Constriction and dilation of claret vessels in the ears are used to control the core body temperature of a rabbit. If the cadre temperature exceeds its optimal temperature greatly, blood flow is constricted to limit the corporeality of blood going through the vessels. With this constriction, in that location is merely a limited amount of claret that is passing through the ears where ambient heat would be able to oestrus the blood that is flowing through the ears and therefore, increasing the body temperature. Constriction is likewise used when the ambient temperature is much lower than that of the rabbit's core torso temperature. When the ears are constricted it once more limits blood period through the ears to conserve the optimal body temperature of the rabbit. If the ambient temperature is either xv degrees above or beneath the optimal torso temperature, the blood vessels volition dilate. With the claret vessels beingness enlarged, the blood is able to pass through the large surface expanse, causing it to either heat or cool downwards.

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

Ventral view of dissected rabbit lungs with key structures labeled.

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 farthermost temperatures of the desert.

Respiratory system

The rabbit's nasal crenel lies dorsal to the oral cavity, and the two compartments are separated by the hard and soft palate.^[28] The nasal crenel 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 tin can enter the respiratory tract.^{[28] [29] [ page needed ]} As the rabbit breathes, air flows in through the nostrils forth the alar folds. From there, the air moves into the nasal crenel, also known as the nasopharynx, down through the trachea, through the larynx, and into the lungs.^{[29] [ page needed ] [xxx]} The larynx functions as the rabbit's voice box, which enables it to produce a wide variety of sounds.^{[29] [ 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 so splits into a left and right bronchus, which meet the lungs at a structure chosen the hilum. From there, the bronchi split into progressively more narrow and numerous branches. The bronchi branch into bronchioles, into respiratory bronchioles, and ultimately finish at the alveolar ducts. The branching that is typically found in rabbit lungs is a clear case of monopodial branching, in which smaller branches divide out laterally from a larger primal branch.^[31]

The construction of the rabbit's nasal and oral cavities, necessitates breathing through the nose. This is due to the fact that the epiglottis is stock-still to the backmost portion of the soft palate.^[30] Inside the rima oris, a layer of tissue sits over the opening of the glottis, which blocks airflow from the oral cavity to the trachea.^[28] The epiglottis functions to foreclose the rabbit from aspirating on its food. Further, the presence of a soft and hard palate allow the rabbit to breathe through its olfactory organ while information technology feeds.^{[29] [ page needed ]}

Monopodial branching equally seen in dissected rabbit lungs.

Rabbits lungs are divided into iv lobes: the cranial, heart, caudal, and accessory lobes. The right lung is made upward of all four lobes, while the left lung only has two: the cranial and caudal lobes.^[31] In order to provide space for the heart, the left cranial lobe of the lungs is significantly smaller than that of the right.^[28] The diaphragm is a muscular structure that lies caudal to the lungs and contracts to facilitate respiration.^{[28] [thirty]}

Digestion

Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass and other leafy plants. In consequence, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem via a form of hindgut fermentation. They laissez passer two singled-out types of feces: hard droppings and soft blackness viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs or "night droppings" ^[32] and are immediately eaten (a behaviour known as coprophagy). Rabbits reingest their own debris (rather than chewing the cud as do cows and numerous other herbivores) to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients.^[33]

Rabbits graze heavily and rapidly for roughly the first one-half-hour of a grazing menstruation (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 non be reingested.^{[ citation needed ]} If the surroundings is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours, grazing at intervals.^{[ citation needed ]} While out of the burrow, the rabbit volition occasionally reingest its soft, partially digested pellets; this is rarely observed, since the pellets are reingested equally they are produced.^{[ citation needed ]}

Video of a wild European rabbit with ears twitching and a jump

Difficult pellets are fabricated upward of hay-like fragments of institute cuticle and stalk, beingness the final waste product subsequently redigestion of soft pellets. These are merely released outside the burrow and are non reingested. Soft pellets are usually produced several hours after grazing, after the difficult pellets have all been excreted.^{[ citation needed ]} They are fabricated up of micro-organisms and undigested institute prison cell walls.^{[ citation needed ]}

Rabbits are hindgut digesters. This means that most of their digestion takes identify in their big intestine and cecum. In rabbits, the cecum is about 10 times bigger than the breadbasket and it along with the big intestine makes upward roughly 40% of the rabbit's digestive tract.^[34] The unique musculature of the cecum allows the abdominal tract of the rabbit to separate fibrous material from more digestible material; the fibrous cloth is passed equally feces, while the more nutritious material is encased in a mucous lining as a cecotrope. Cecotropes, sometimes called "dark carrion", are loftier in minerals, vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit'southward wellness. Rabbits consume these to meet their nutritional requirements; the mucous blanket allows the nutrients to laissez passer through the acidic tum for digestion in the intestines. This process allows rabbits to excerpt the necessary nutrients from their food.^[35]

The chewed establish material collects in the large cecum, a secondary chamber between the large and small intestine containing big quantities of symbiotic leaner that assistance with the digestion of cellulose and likewise 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 incorporate up to 5 times the vitamins of hard feces. Afterwards being excreted, they are eaten whole by the rabbit and redigested in a special role of the breadbasket. The pellets remain intact for upward to vi hours in the tum; the leaner 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, equally well as the nutrients formed by the microbial activeness and thus ensures that maximum nutrition is derived from the food they eat.^[11] This process serves the aforementioned purpose in the rabbit as rumination does in cattle and sheep.^[36]

Dissected paradigm of the male rabbit reproductive organisation with key structures labeled.

Considering rabbits cannot vomit,^[37] if buildup occurs within the intestines (due often to a diet with bereft fibre),^[38] intestinal blockage can occur.^[39]

Reproduction

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

The developed 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.^[40] The Leydig cells produce testosterone, which maintains libido^[40] and creates secondary sexual activity characteristics such equally the genital tubercle and penis. The Sertoli cells triggers the product of Anti-Müllerian duct hormone, which absorbs the Müllerian duct. In an adult male person rabbit, the sheath of the penis is cylinder-like and can be extruded as early as two months of age.^[41] The scrotal sacs lay lateral to the penis and contain epididymal fatty 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.^[41] Furthermore, the secondary sex characteristics, such as the testes, are circuitous and secrete many compounds. These compounds includes fructose, citric acid, minerals, and a uniquely high corporeality of catalase.^[forty]

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

The adult female reproductive tract is bipartite, which prevents an embryo from translocating between uteri.^[42] The two uterine horns communicate to two cervixes and forms 1 vaginal canal. Forth with being bipartite, the female rabbit does not go through an estrus bicycle, which causes mating induced ovulation.^[41]

The average female rabbit becomes sexually mature at 3 to 8 months of age and tin can excogitate at any time of the twelvemonth for the elapsing of her life. However, egg and sperm production can brainstorm to turn down after three years.^[40] 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 but 20–40 seconds and afterward, the male will throw himself backwards off the female.^[43]

The rabbit gestation period is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days with an average menstruation of 31 days. A longer gestation period will generally yield a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods will requite birth to a larger litter. The size of a single litter can range from iv to 12 kits allowing a female to deliver up to 60 new kits a year. After birth, the female can get pregnant again every bit early equally the next 24-hour interval.^[41]

The mortality rates of embryos are high in rabbits and can be due to infection, trauma, poor nutrition and environmental stress so a loftier fertility rate is necessary to counter this.^[41]

Sleep

Rabbits may appear to be crepuscular, but their natural inclination is toward nocturnal activity.^[44] In 2011, the average sleep time of a rabbit in captivity was calculated at 8.4 hours per day.^[45] Every bit with other casualty animals, rabbits oftentimes slumber with their eyes open, so that sudden movements will awaken the rabbit to respond to potential danger.^[46]

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 course of calicivirus)^[47] or myxomatosis. Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms (such every bit Taenia serialis), external parasites (including fleas and mites), coccidia species, and Toxoplasma gondii.^{[48] [49]} Domesticated rabbits with a diet defective in high cobweb sources, such as hay and grass, are susceptible to potentially lethal gastrointestinal stasis.^[50] Rabbits and hares are almost never establish to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.^[51]

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

Ecology

Rabbit kits ane hr afterwards nascency

Rabbits are prey animals and are therefore constantly aware of their surroundings. For example, in Mediterranean Europe, rabbits are the main prey of ruby foxes, badgers, and Iberian lynxes.^[52] If confronted past 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 broad field of vision, and a good deal of it is devoted to overhead scanning.^[53] They survive predation by burrowing, hopping abroad in a zig-zag movement, and, if captured, delivering powerful kicks with their hind legs. Their potent teeth allow them to eat and to bite in lodge to escape a struggle.^[54] The longest-lived rabbit on tape, a domesticated European rabbit living in Tasmania, died at age 18.^[55] The lifespan of wild rabbits is much shorter; the average longevity of an eastern cottontail, for instance, is less than 1 year.^[56]

Habitat and range

Rabbit habitats include meadows, forest, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands.^[57] Rabbits alive in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.^[57]

More half the earth's rabbit population resides in North America.^[57] They are as well native to southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts of Africa and South America. They are not naturally plant in virtually of Eurasia, where a number of species of hares are nowadays. Rabbits start entered South America relatively recently, equally role of the Smashing American Interchange. Much of the continent has just ane species of rabbit, the tapeti, while most of South America'southward southern cone is without rabbits.

The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the globe.^[11]

Rabbits have been launched into space orbit.^[58]

Ecology problems

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 consequence of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, feral rabbit depredation tin can be problematic for agriculture. Gassing (fumigation of warrens),^[59] barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting take been used to control rabbit populations, merely 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 adult in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers. If it were to make its manner into wild populations in areas such as Australia, it could create a population boom, every bit those diseases are the well-nigh serious threats to rabbit survival. Rabbits in Commonwealth of australia and New Zealand are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them.^{[threescore] [61]}

As food and clothing

Saint Jerome in the Desert
[Note rabbit being chased past a domesticated hound]
Taddeo Crivelli (Italian, died about 1479)

Rabbit being prepared in the kitchen
Simulation of daily life, mid-15th century
Hospices de Beaune, French republic

In some areas, wild rabbits and hares are hunted for their meat, a lean source of high quality protein.^[62] In the wild, such hunting is accomplished with the assist of trained falcons, ferrets, or dogs, every bit well equally with snares or other traps, and rifles. A defenseless rabbit may be dispatched with a sharp accident to the back of its head, a exercise from which the term rabbit punch is derived.

Wild leporids incorporate a pocket-size portion of global rabbit-meat consumption. Domesticated descendants of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that are bred and kept every bit livestock (a practise called cuniculture) account for the estimated 200 million tons of rabbit meat produced annually.^[63] Approximately 1.ii billion rabbits are slaughtered each yr for meat worldwide.^[64] In 1994, the countries with the highest consumption per capita of rabbit meat were Malta with 8.89 kg (nineteen lb 10 oz), Italy with 5.71 kg (12 lb nine oz), and Cyprus with 4.37 kg (nine lb ten oz), falling to 0.03 kg (1 oz) in Nihon. The figure for the United States was 0.14 kg (5 oz) per capita. The largest producers of rabbit meat in 1994 were Mainland china, Russian federation, Italy, France, and Spain.^[65] Rabbit meat was once a common commodity in Sydney, Australia, merely declined after the myxomatosis virus was intentionally introduced to command the exploding population of feral rabbits in the expanse.

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 place in London, rabbit carcasses are sometimes displayed hanging, unbutchered (in the traditional style), adjacent to braces of pheasant or other modest 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".^[66] In China, rabbit meat is particularly popular in Sichuan cuisine, with its stewed rabbit, spicy diced rabbit, BBQ-fashion rabbit, and even spicy rabbit heads, which have been compared to spicy duck neck.^[63] Rabbit meat is comparatively unpopular elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.

An extremely rare infection associated with rabbits-as-food is tularemia (too known every bit rabbit fever), which may exist contracted from an infected rabbit.^[67] Hunters are at college risk for tularemia because of the potential for inhaling the leaner during the skinning process.

In improver to their meat, rabbits are used for their wool, fur, and pelts, as well as their nitrogen-rich manure and their high-protein milk.^[68] Production industries have developed domesticated rabbit breeds (such as the well-known Angora rabbit) to efficiently fill up these needs.

In art, literature, and culture

Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with leap and Easter as the Easter Bunny. The species' role as a casualty animal with few defenses evokes vulnerability and innocence, and in folklore and modern children'due south stories, rabbits often appear every bit sympathetic characters, able to connect hands 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 animate being) is besides known for its speed, agility, and endurance, symbolized (for example) past the marketing icons the Analeptic Bunny and the Duracell Bunny.

Folklore

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

"Rabbit fools Elephant past showing the reflection of the moon".
Illustration (from 1354) of the Panchatantra

• In Aztec mythology, a pantheon of iv hundred rabbit gods known equally Centzon Totochtin, led by Ometochtli or Two Rabbit, represented fertility, parties, and drunkenness.
• In Central Africa, the common hare (Kalulu), is "inevitably described" equally a trickster effigy.^[69]
• In Chinese folklore, rabbits back-trail Chang'e on the Moon. In the Chinese New Twelvemonth, the zodiacal rabbit is 1 of the twelve angelic animals in the Chinese zodiac. Note that the Vietnamese zodiac includes a zodiacal true cat in place of the rabbit, possibly because rabbits did not inhabit Vietnam.^{[ citation needed ]} The most common explanation, however, is that the ancient Vietnamese word for "rabbit" (mao) sounds like the Chinese word for "cat" (卯, mao).^[lxx]
• In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they brand mochi, the popular snack of mashed gummy 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 Bang-up 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 accept associations with an ancient circular motif called the iii rabbits (or "three hares"). Its significant ranges from "peace and quiet", to purity or the Holy Trinity, to Kabbalistic levels of the soul or to the Jewish diaspora. The tripartite symbol too 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 blitheness) and Bugs Bunny (the cartoon character from Warner Bros.), for example.

Anthropomorphized rabbits take appeared in movie and literature, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters), in Watership Downward (including the film and boob tube 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.

WWII USAF pilot D. R. Emerson
"flys with a rabbit's foot talisman,
a souvenir from a New York daughter friend"

A rabbit's pes may be carried equally an amulet, believed to bring protection and skillful luck. This belief is institute in many parts of the world, with the earliest use being recorded in Europe c. 600 BC.^[71]

On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and fifty-fifty speaking the creature'due south name can cause upset among older island residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying manufacture where (to save space) extracted stones that were not fit for auction were set aside in what became alpine, unstable walls. The local rabbits' tendency to burrow in that location would weaken the walls and their plummet 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 exist referred to) may instead be called a "long ears" or "underground mutton", so as non to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself. While it was true l years ago^{[ when? ]} that a pub on the isle could be emptied past calling out the word "rabbit", this has become more than fable than fact in modern times.^{[ citation needed ]}

In other parts of Britain and in Due north America, invoking the rabbit's name may instead bring practiced 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 starting time twenty-four hours of each month, because doing so will ensure good fortune for the duration of that calendar month.

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

See also

• Animal track
• Cuniculture
• Dwarf rabbit
• Hare games
• Jackalope
• List of animate being names
• Listing of rabbit breeds
• Lop rabbit
• Rabbits in the arts
• Rabbit show jumping

References

Notes

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

Citations

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Further reading

• Windling, Terri. The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares ^[usurped!]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rabbits.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rabbit

• American Rabbit Breeders Association system, which promotes all phases of rabbit keeping
• House Rabbit Society an activist organization that promotes keeping rabbits indoors

greenachim1954.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit