lop-eared rabbit

Lop-eared rabbit. Photo by Tamara Rees.

Much of the information for this article came from a superb book called Why Does My Rabbit...? by Anne McBride (Souvenir Press, Revised edition September 1, 2003) who is an animal behaviorist. This is the finest and most complete book I have seen on rabbit behavior to date. It includes not only extensive background information on rabbits, but specific remedies for specific behavioral problems. I would highly recommend reading this book from cover to cover. It is available at some bookstores, veterinary clinics and online book sites.

Our pet rabbits are direct descendants of the wild European rabbits, which originally inhabited the area around Spain and Portugal. The scientific name Oryctolagus cuniculus means “hare-like digger” (an appropriate name if you ever had a rabbit take a liking to your carpet!). They were originally bred in captivity at least 3000 years ago as a source of food and fur. Not until the 19th century did “fancy” rabbit breeding become fashionable and thus the proliferation of the many shapes and sizes of rabbits we have today.

Rabbits were never bred primarily for behavioral characteristics - as dogs are - but rather for size and color. Therefore the behaviors we see in the domestic rabbit today vary little from their wild ancestors.

Rabbits are herbivorous prey animals, meaning they are low on the food chain and must be on the constant lookout for predators. Even though we don't like to think about it, in nature they provide food for a whole host of other animals and thus have a prolific rate of reproduction. Thus the three main purposes of the prey animal are to stay alive, reproduce and eat enough to accomplish the first two purposes.

Twitching Nose

Part of the rabbit's anatomical design is geared towards detecting and escaping predators. Even when rabbits are sleeping they must constantly be monitoring their environment for danger, hence the constant nose movement. As they wiggle their nose and pull in air they also part the split in the upper lip to moisturize the air and improve the ability to pick up scents.

Large Moveable Ears

Rabbits have a large ear surface area for two reasons. The most important is to allow more sound waves to be collected and thus detect potential danger in the area. The other reason, particularly in warm climates, is as a natural “air conditioner” for the body where heat can be released quickly. Rabbits will move their ears independently of each other to further maximize their hearing ability. Only the poor lop-eared rabbit, which of course was genetically altered by man, cannot use his ears in the proper manner.

Large Protruding Eyes

The position and size of the eyes allows excellent vision almost 360 degrees around the head. Rabbits cannot see well directly in front but together with smelling and hearing they can accurately pinpoint where danger is coming from.

Eating Patterns

Rabbits evolved to exist on a wide range of plant materials, including plants of low nutrient value to other animals. Therefore they were designed to be grazing a good portion of the day, which means they may have to travel some distance to obtain food. During any eating behavior, a rabbit will periodically raise its head to scan the area with all its senses, which gives rabbits a “nervous” look when eating.

McBride describes three types of eating behaviors that agree with my own observations of rabbits. Casual feeding is when the rabbit is feeding in a “safe” area such as near the burrow and is comprised of relaxed nibbling here and there. Voracious feeding is when the rabbit is feeding rapidly on anything in sight in a straight line as quickly as possible. It is suggested that this feeding may be seen when there is bad weather or danger that precludes the rabbit being out very long to feed. Normal feeding is what would be seen most regularly within a rabbit's established territory consisting of a zigzag pattern where there is selection of only the tastiest food items.

Rabbits tend to defecate as they are eating, particularly with the casual or normal patterns. These waste droppings then fertilize the area and keep things growing!

Digging

The European rabbit lived in interconnected burrows called warrens so the main reason for digging is to create a safe place to hide, sleep and reproduce. McBride also describes a second reason for digging, which is to produce a horseshoe-shaped depression called a scrape. The scrape may provide a place to roll in dry earth or it may be where a food item was uncovered. However, she concludes that the most common reason is to provide a place for male rabbits to make small deposits of feces to mark their territory, acting as she states, “like a billboard at the side of an open highway.”

Jumping

Although jumping is not a part of normal locomotion for the rabbit it can be essential when there is a need to escape from danger. A rabbit running for her life can leap not only over obstacles, but also straight up into the air and then twist around so she lands going a totally different direction, thus throwing the predator off guard.

Vocalization

Since rabbits are prey animals they by necessity do not want to draw attention to themselves with a lot of noise. Therefore most of their vocalizations are quiet. Content rabbit noises might include a low purring sound, soft clicking, or slow, quiet grinding of the teeth. Aggressive noises include grunts, growls and loud teeth grinding. Pain and fear can be expressed also by loud teeth grinding. Rabbits have a piercing scream that is given out only when the animal is in extreme fear or pain. It is so startling that is likely serves to shock the predator into hesitating long enough for the rabbit to get away, or as a warning to other rabbits in the area.

Scent Marking

Rabbits can use their feces to mark their territory and to communicate with other rabbits. In addition rabbits of both sexes have scent glands under their chin. They will mark important items in their territory, including other rabbits, with the clear secretion from this gland, which is undetectable to humans but interesting to other rabbits.

Urine

There are two methods by which rabbits urinate. One is simply to empty the bladder in a normal position. The other is lifting the hindquarters and spraying urine on a vertical surface. Most often spraying is done by intact male rabbits to mark another male rabbit or during courtship proceedings with a female rabbit. Animals neutered before or shortly after sexual maturity do not usually spray urine.

Visual Communication

As McBride points out, visual communication is not a large part of rabbit communication. However there are certain postures that are significant.

Body Language

A relaxed rabbit will lie either on his side or belly with the hind legs stretched out or alternatively squat down on the ground with the ears folded against the head.

A submissive rabbit makes himself look small by crouching as flat as possible and staying still, but the eyes still look fairly relaxed and not tense. A fearful rabbit will look similar to the submissive rabbit but the eyes will look tense and “bugged out,” and the body and ears will be pressed tightly in a downward fashion so as to appear invisible to the predator. When a rabbit encounters something distasteful but not necessarily dangerous in his environment, he will shake his head. (Of course constant shaking of the head most often is a medical problem.)

And we all know that when a rabbit thumps the ground energetically, he is warning other rabbits of danger. He will then dash off with the white underside of the tail raised as a warning signal to all rabbit buddies within sight.

Have fun with your bunny and enjoy the species you have chosen to take into your home. We are lucky to be able to share our space with a creature that is in reality little changed from its wild ancestors, but has adapted to life with us crazy humans in spite of it all!