Rabbits are mammals that we often use as pets. They look cute and little kids love to play with them. Rabbits belong to the class Mammalia and order Lagomorpha with the family Leporidae. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. Seven genera of the family Leporidae are generally classified as rabbits. Rabbits are basically herbivorous animals and prefer to live in meadows, forests, woods, bushes, and grasslands. They also inhabit deserts and wetlands. They prefer to live in groups making underground burrows. A group of burrows is called a burrow.
Most of the rabbit population has been reported in North America. They are native to Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands in Japan, and parts of Africa and South America. They are absent in Euresia, where there is a large population of hares. Rabbits first entered South America during the Great American Exchange, but the southern cone of South America lacks any species of rabbit. The Tapeti rabbit species dominates South America. Today, European rabbits have been introduced to many parts of the world.
Rabbits have long ears of about 10 cm in length that are an adaptation for the detection of predators. The hind legs are powerful for fast running. The two front legs have 5 toes and the extra one is called a dewclaw. The hind feet have 4 toes. Rabbits are digitigrade that run on the tips of their toes. Wild rabbits can reach a length of 20 to 50 cm and weigh between 0.4 and 2 kg. The coat is generally long, smooth with shades of brown, gray and beige, and the tail includes a small tuft of brownish fur. The epiglottis is present just above the roof of the mouth, making the rabbit an obligatory nasal breather. There are two sets of incisors one behind the other. They share a common lineage with rodents and are now known as members of the Glires superclass.
Most of the digestion occurs in the large intestine and the cecum, which is why they are digesters of the large intestine. Caecum is about 10 times longer than the stomach, and the large intestine makes about 40% of the digestive tract in rabbits. The special and unique musculature of the cecum facilitates the separation of the more digestible matter from the fibrous material so that effective digestion can begin and the fibrous material can leave the body as feces. Rabbits are known to eat their feces showing the phenomenon of coprophagia. Cecotropes are sometimes called nocturnal feces and are consumed by rabbits as they are made of more nutritious elements such as vitamins, minerals, and proteins wrapped in the mucous lining of the cecum. They are essential for the rabbit’s health.
Rabbits are prey to carnivores, so they tend to remember that they are confined to underground burrows. They have a good sense of sight. The teeth are strong and serve both to eat and to bite the enemy to escape their grip. The reproduction rate is higher in these animals. The breeding season is from February to October. In Australia and New Zealand, the breeding occurs during the months of late July to January. The gestation period is about 30 days. The normal litter contains 4 to 12 babies, but the litter size is large in the larger species. A single doe can produce around 800 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in one season. A female is ready to reproduce at the age of 6 months and the male at the age of 7 months. Courtship and mating occur only for a short period of time lasting between 30 and 40 seconds. Courtship behavior involves licking, sniffing, and following the female. Urine is also sprayed on the female as part of sexual behavior. Females are reflex ovulators. The doe also loses clumps of hair during sexual behavior.
Ovulation begins approximately 10 hours after mating. After mating, the female nests with the dewlap fur, flanks, and belly regions. Removing the fur exposes the female’s nipples so that she can breastfeed her babies well. Babies are altricial, which means that when they are born they are blind, naked, and defenseless. Babies gain passive immunity before birth through placental transfer. Babies’ eyes open after 10-11 days after birth and they begin to eat on their own at the age of 14 days. Babies develop a soft body coat within a few days of their birth that is replaced by a pre-adult coat at the age of 5-6 weeks. This pre-adult coat is replaced by the adult coat at the age of 6-8 months. The final adult coat sheds twice a year. Rabbit milk is very nutritious, so babies only need the milk twice a day. The total life expectancy of a rabbit is around 9 to 12 years and the oldest species had an average life expectancy of 18 years.
Rabbits are herbivores and prefer to feed on grass, leaves, and herbs. The diet consists mainly of cellulose which is difficult to digest. They have solved this problem by distributing two types of stool, one in the form of hard droppings and the other in the form of soft, black, slimy balls. The soft ones are immediately consumed by them as they pass out, as they are a rich source of nutrients. The grazing period varies considerably. The first half hour of grazing consists of rapid grazing followed by half an hour of selective grazing. During selective grazing, rabbits faint with heavy falls that are not eaten again. If the environment appears to be clear of enemies, they continue to graze for long intervals. The reingestion of the soft granules has been observed early in the morning around 8 o’clock and at 5 o’clock in the afternoon inside the burrows.
Hard droppings are made up of the cuticle and stem of the plant that are formed after re-ingestion of the soft granules. They are released out of the burrow and are not eaten again. The soft granules are produced after the hard droppings have generally been excreted after the pasture. Soft pellets mainly composed of microorganisms and undigested plant cell walls. The chewed plant material accumulates in the secondary chamber called cecum present between the small and large intestine that houses a large proportion of symbiotic bacteria that produce vitamin and cellulose enzyme to carry out the digestion of cellulose. The soft granules contain about 56% bacteria by dry weight and 24.4% protein is also present in them. The granules remain intact in the stomach for approximately 6 hours after reingestion and the bacteria present continue to digest the vegetable carbohydrates they contain. This reingestion process helps the rabbit to get the maximum benefit from the nutrients that have been lost during the first pass of the stool. This process fulfills the same function that is found in ruminant cattle and sheep. They are unable to vomit due to the physiology of their digestive system.
Rabbits can be easily distinguished from hares since the baby rabbits are born naked, blind (altricial) while the hairy ones are with hair and are able to see (precocious). All rabbits, except cottontails, live in burrows, while hares live in simple nests just above the ground. Hares are larger than rabbits with long ears and black markings on their fur. They are wild and cannot be tamed like European rabbits. Rabbits have been kept as pets since time immemorial. Domestic rabbits are often called as domestic rabbits are kept in cages placed inside rooms. They can often be trained for specific tasks. Some domestic rabbits are kept in cages during the day, but are brought back into the rooms at night. Wild hares are eaten for food in Europe, South America, North America, and many parts of the Middle East. They are also sold by butchers in the UK and Australian markets. When used for food, rabbits are hunted and raised for meat. Weapons are used to capture them. Rabbit farming is a practice of raising rabbits for meat and this practice is popular in some parts of the world. Rabbit fur is often used to make scarves and hats. Angora rabbits are bred for their long, fine hairs. Fecal matter is a good source of compost for plants and rabbit milk is a rich source of protein.
Rabbits are also a source of threat to humans as their reproduction rate is very high and they cause considerable damage to agricultural crops. They occupy a very important place in cultural and religious beliefs. They are symbols of fertility and rebirth and have been designated as the Easter Bunny. They are also the symbols of playful sexuality that relates to human perception of innocence, as well as his reputation as a prolific breeder.
Nature has given a specific role to each individual to play. Rabbits, in addition to being used as a source of entertainment, meat and skin deserve a special place in the ecosystem.