The Truth About Rabbits: A Misunderstood Pet

By Mikaela Käll and Malin Hultman

How can I make my rabbit more satisfied with life? How can I get my bunny to trust me?

How do animal emotions actually work? Do they have different personalities just like us humans? How do rabbits play?

These are some of the questions this book is set out to answer. It is written to suit both beginners and more experienced rabbit lovers.

The purpose of this book is to spread knowledge and understanding of rabbit behaviour, to make for a more harmonious relationship between rabbits and their human family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Jun 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9789179694449

Mikaela Käll

Medelålders dam med ett livslångt passionerat intresse för etologi och genetik, speciellt då på kanin. Har läst det mesta som finns inom ämnet och dagligen i många års tid hjälpt andra uppfödare med avelsplanering, färgkombinationer och identifiering. Föder upp kaniner för sällskap/utställning. Har skrivit böckerna Sanningen om kaniner (2018) Kaninraser från hela världen (2020) Kaninfärger del 1 (2021)

Book preview

Diseases

PREFACE

This book is for readers that percieve each rabbit as an individual with a unique personality. For those who keep rabbits primarily as companions and think it is important to be able to understand their needs and behavior - from the rabbit's point of view. Despite its popularity, the rabbit in large is a very misunderstood and underestimated pet. We think this is unfortunate.

The book is divided into three parts, containing issues that often arise when sharing your life with one or more rabbits. Our purpose is also to ask questions, questions that have not yet been answered, but worth considering. We want to spread knowledge to counter prejudice about these fascinating animals.

Our experience lies mainly different rabbit organisations; like breeding, showing and elite show jumping. We are dedicated rabbit owners, with a passion for these wonderful animals and their well being. It's been countless hours, months and years we spent on studying our rabbits' behaviour, reading books, translating scientific studies, discussing in forums and social media in both Swedish and English. We have now accumulated a large part of this in the book. Apologies in advance, for any grammatical errors that appeared during the translation from Swedish to English.

We hope this book will offer new insights and inspiration!

Spring, 2020

Mikaela Käll, Alrunans rabbitry

Malin Hultman, Snowflake's rabbitry

PART I

BEHAVIOURS AND NEEDS

Quotes from Rabbit Owners:

They are very big animals in a small sized body.

"The most beautiful thing about Fluffy is her nose, it's so cozy.

Especially when she comes up and wants attention and

bumps me with her nose. "

" Unbelievable amount of personality and will,

in a misunderstood animal. "

" They are an animal who can become friends with us, who could

actually eat them if we wanted to. It feels like a deeper confidence

to earn than the one from a predator like a cat/dog. "

CHAPTER 1

THE EUROPEAN RABBIT

Species: Oryctolagus cuniculus

Genus: Oryctolagus

Family: Leporidae

Order: Lagomorpha

Class: Mammalia

Our domestic rabbit descends from the European rabbit and is still closely related to its wild counterpart; they still belong to the same species. The Latin name Oryctolagus roughly means a hare-like digger and cuniculus is the word for underground passageways. Rabbits are not rodents, they belongs to the family Leporidae - hares and rabbits.

The family contains around 60 different species; including the wild dwarf, the cottontail and the Arctic hare. The European rabbit is believed to have originated from Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately, their intense reproduction and outstanding adaptability cause them to be viewed as pests in large parts of the world. Even wildlife lovers consider wild rabbits a disturbance of nature when they multiply out of control and push away populations of hares in the area.

At the same time, these pests provide an essential meal for the thirty species of carnivores in the countries around the Mediterranean; animals who without a rich rabbit population may go extinct. And not to forget; the rabbit's paws are eagerly digging and scratching around the soil; an indispensable tool that helps nature. Making seeds spread and plants thrive. A rabbit's feces bring important nutrition back to the ground.

There are many similarities between rabbits and hares, but there are also differences. They are two completely separate species and can not produce offspring together because of the number of chromosomes; hare has 46 and rabbits 44 (the species cottontail rabbit has 42), thus no viable fetus develops. Hares are solitary, do not dig holes, give birth to younglings with fur and open eyes who are basically ready to get by on their own. Rabbits on the other hand; some live and move in groups and all of them conceive kits who are naked and blind at birth and need their mother until at least four weeks of age. Rabbits also have a completely different and more agile movement pattern. The Cottontail rabbit in North America is more similar to the hare, it's solitary living and strongly territorial.

Our house rabbits still have a lot of their wild cousins' instincts and behaviors left, more so than other domestic animals. The most important thing to understand with rabbits is that they by nature have a strong flight tendency, because they are a prey animal with a huge number of potential enemies.

What is a prey animal?

Being a prey animal means you have enemies everywhere! They can be attacked from above by hawks, owls and crows, or hunted at ground level by badgers, foxes, cats, dogs, wolves, and many others predators. Weasels and other ferrets are a rabbit's arch enemy; they are often hunting in organized groups that can penetrate tiny slots and holes, get through the tunnels into the burrow, leaving behind chaos and mass death. It is typical for a prey animal to experience fear of large open areas, even when there is no noticeable danger in the vicinity. This can be observed in our domestic rabbits, who are sometimes afraid of walking on empty floors or lawns. To practise constant watchfulness and always being prepared to flee, long before you come face-to-face with a predator, is a smart way to be prepared. In many cases, this can lead to the animal surviving instead of being surprised and caught. Rabbits react with increased stress levels in the body when they catch the scent of a predator. Young males are often at high risk of getting caught and eaten. After a year's litters have lived through their first winter, there are about 40% more females than males in the colonies.

It's a fact that most wild rabbits do not even get to live beyond their second birthday. In many areas only 1 out of 10 wild rabbits reach the age of 1. This explains why they are terrified of being caught, lifted and carried. If they lose control in the wild, it means death. So many situations are pure danger for a bunny. Our house rabbits also prefer to have four paws on the ground and full control of the body, as well as available hiding places. Their small noses move continuously up and down partly because rabbits breathe only through their nose, but also because a good sense of smell is of great importance in order to detect danger.

They have flexible bodies built for speed. Sharp senses which they are using constantly. Rabbits have large ears to more easily capture and locate sounds, eyes on the sides of the head, which means they have a very broad vision range. Because they live most of their lives in darkness or dusk, the senses of smell and hearing are better developed than eyesight and body language.

Habitat and food

Wild rabbits prefer hills of sandy soil among pines and bushes to live in and create their burrows. The sand makes it easy and close to effortless to dig new tunnels if needed. They may dig the entrance under a trunk or below a bush, stone or tree. The tunnels are many and very narrow, only fifteen centimeters in diameter, a perfect fit for adult rabbits (a rabbit can become very flat and small if it needs to!)

The safest and best holes preferred by most wild rabbits are dug as deep as 1.5 meters. A colony of wild rabbits can spread over hundreds of square meters underground, and have up to fifty different exits and entrances to their tunnels. Depending on the continent and the type of habitat, the wild rabbit's mostly a crepuscular animal, which means that they take advantage of the dim light at dusk and then again at dawn, sometimes even at night, to sneak out and eat. During daytime they rest in burrows.

Prey animals have a very discreet language, no unnecessary sounds or movements that can attract unwanted attention, but despite this they manage to spend about twelve hours a day above ground just to eat. Sneaky! In warmer climates where the vegetation is abundant and providing lots of hideouts, no caves or tunnels are dug at all except for when kits are about to be born.

Rabbits are herbivores - animals that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plants. Their diet consists of very coarse grasses, long fibers, bitter herbs, small bushes and even more grass. They cut and tear off roots under ground. Barren fields with dry, hard-to-chew but tasty vegetation are preferred, far from the soft and moist lawns we usually have in our gardens. Of course, they are opportunists and if there's an orchard nearby, they will eat plenty, without understanding that it is potentially dangerous with large amounts of fruit. When grazing you can see that rabbits constantly look at everything around them and always want to stay close to a potential hideout. The larger the number of rabbits in the