Rabbit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rabbit | ||||||||||
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Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii) | ||||||||||
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| Genera | ||||||||||
| Pentalagus |
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), cottontail rabbit (genus Sylvilagus; 13 species), and the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi, endangered species on Amami Ōshima, Japan). There are many other species of rabbit, and these, along with cottontails, pikas, and hares, make up the order Lagomorpha. Rabbits generally live between four and twenty years. A rabbit's gestation period is 28 to 31 days.[1]
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Diet and eating habits
Rabbits are herbivores who feed by grazing on grass and leafy weeds. Rather than chewing the cud as do cows and many other herbivores, rabbits reingest their own droppings in order to fully digest their food and extract sufficient nutrients.
Rabbits graze heavily and rapidly for roughly the first half hour of a grazing period (usually in the late afternoon), followed by about half an hour of more selective feeding. In this time, the rabbit will also excrete many hard faecal pellets, being waste pellets that will not be reingested. If the environment is relatively non-threatening, the rabbit will remain outdoors for many hours, grazing at intervals. While out of the burrow, the rabbit will occasionally reingest its soft, partially digested pellets; this is rarely observed, since the pellets are reingested as they are produced. Reingestion is most common within the burrow between 8 o'clock in the morning and 5 o'clock in the evening, being carried out intermittently within that period.
Hard pellets are made up of hay-like fragments of plant cuticle and stalk, being the final waste product after redigestion of soft pellets. These are only released outside the burrow and are not reingested. Soft pellets are usually produced several hours after grazing, after the hard pellets have all been excreted. They are made up of micro-organisms and undigested plant cell walls, and are surrounded by a mucous membrane which remains unbroken during reingestion; the rabbit swallows the soft pellets whole. The pellets are about 56% bacteria by dry weight, largely accounting for the pellets being 24.4% protein on average. These pellets remain intact for up to six hours in the stomach, the bacteria within continuing to digest the plant carbohydrates. Eventually the pellets dissolve, releasing easily absorbed nutrients. This process serves the same purpose within the rabbit as rumination does in cattle and sheep. [2]
Differences from hares
Rabbits are clearly distinguished from hares in that rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless. In contrast, hares are generally born with hair and are able to see (precocial). All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbit) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares live in simple nests above the ground (as does the cottontail rabbit), and usually do not live in groups. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are often kept as house pets. In gardens, they are typically kept in hutches –small, wooden, house-like boxes– that protect the rabbits from the environment and predators.
Rabbit behaviour in the wild
For a detailed discussion of wild rabbit behaviour, see European rabbit.
Rabbits as food
Leporids such as European rabbits and hares are a food meat in Europe, South America, North America, some parts of the Middle East, and China, among other places.
Rabbit meat was once commonly sold in Sydney, Australia, the sellers of which giving the name to the rugby league team the South Sydney Rabbitohs, but quickly became unpopular after the disease myxomatosis was introduced in an attempt to wipe out the feral rabbit population (see also Rabbits in Australia).
Rabbit is still commonly sold in UK butchers and markets, although not frequently in supermarkets. At Farmers markets and the famous Borough Market in London, rabbits will be displayed dead and hanging unbutchered in the traditional style next to braces of Pheasant and other small game.
When used for food, rabbits are both hunted and bred for meat. Snares or guns along with dogs are usually employed when catching wild rabbits for food. In many regions, rabbits are also bred for meat, a practice called cuniculture. Rabbits can then be killed by hitting the back of their heads, a practice from which the term rabbit punch is derived. Rabbit meat is a good source of high quality protein. It can be used in most ways chicken meat is used. Rabbit meat is leaner than beef, pork, and chicken meat. Rabbit products are generally labelled in three ways, the first being Fryer. This is a young rabbit between 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 pounds, and up to 12 weeks in age. This type of meat is tender and fine grained. The next product is a Roaster, they are usually over 4 pounds and over 8 months in age. The flesh is firm and coarse grained and less tender than a fryer. Then there are giblets which include the liver and heart. One of the most common type of rabbit to be bred for meat is New Zealand white rabbit.
Rabbit pelts are sometimes used in for clothing and accessories, such as scarves or hats. Rabbits are very good producers of manure; additionally, their urine, being high in nitrogen, makes lemon trees very productive. Their milk may also be of great medicinal or nutritional benefit due to its high protein content (see links below).
There are a number of health issues associated with the use of rabbits for meat, one of which is Tularemia or Rabbit Fever. Another is so-called rabbit starvation, due most likely to essential amino acid deficiencies in rabbit meat and synthesis limitations in human beings.
Rabbits as pets
For a more detailed discussion of keeping rabbits as pets at home, see House rabbit.
Environmental problems
- See also: Rabbits in Australia
Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans. As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, wild rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture. Gassing, barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting have been used to control rabbit populations, but 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 developed in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers. If it were to make its way into wild populations in areas such as Australia, it could create a population boom, as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival. Rabbits in Australia are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them.
Classifications
Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the order Rodentia (rodent) until 1912, when they were moved into a new order Lagomorpha. This order also includes pikas.
Order Lagomorpha
- Family Leporidae
- Genus Pentalagus
- Amami Rabbit/Ryūkyū Rabbit, Pentalagus furnessi
- Genus Bunolagus
- Bushman Rabbit, Bunolagus monticularis
- Genus Nesolagus
- Sumatran Striped Rabbit, Nesolagus netscheri
- Annamite Striped Rabbit, Nesolagus timminsi
- Genus Romerolagus
- Volcano Rabbit, Romerolagus diazi
- Genus Brachylagus
- Pygmy Rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis
- Genus Sylvilagus
- Forest Rabbit, Sylvilagus brasiliensis
- Dice's Cottontail, Sylvilagus dicei
- Brush Rabbit, Sylvilagus bachmani
- San Jose Brush Rabbit, Sylvilagus mansuetus A French lop rabbit
- Swamp Rabbit, Sylvilagus aquaticus
- Marsh Rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris
- Eastern Cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus
- New England Cottontail, Sylvilagus transitionalis
- Mountain Cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii
- Omilteme Cottontail, Sylvilagus insonus
- Mexican Cottontail, Sylvilagus cunicularis
- Tres Marias Rabbit, Sylvilagus graysoni
- Genus Oryctolagus
- European Rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus
- Genus Poelagus
- Central African Rabbit, Poelagus marjorita
- Three other genera in family, regarded as hares, not rabbits
- Genus Pentalagus
Naming
Rabbits are often known affectionately by the pet name bunny or bunny rabbit, especially when referring to young, domesticated rabbits. Originally, the word for an adult rabbit was coney or cony, while rabbit referred to the young animals. Coney was abandoned as a term for the animal after it was co-opted in the eighteenth century as a synonym for the word cunt, widely considered vulgar.[3] More recently, the term kit has been used to refer to a young rabbit. Young hares are called leverets, and this term is sometimes informally applied to any young rabbit. Male rabbits are called bucks and females does. A group of rabbits or hares are often called a fluffle in parts of Northern Canada.
Rabbits in culture and literature
Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny. The species' role as a prey animal also lends itself as a symbol of innocence, another Easter connotation. Additionally, rabbits are often used as symbols of playful sexuality, which also relates to the human perception of innocence, as well as its reputation as a prolific breeder.
- Further information: Playboy Bunny
Folklore and mythology
The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies.
- In Chinese literature, rabbits accompany Chang'e on the Moon. Also associated with the Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year), rabbits are also one of the twelve celestial animals in the Chinese Zodiac for the Chinese calendar. It is interesting to note that the Vietnamese lunar new year replaced the rabbit with a cat in their calendar, as rabbits did not inhabit Vietnam.
- In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they make mochi, the popular snack of mashed sticky 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 (See also: Moon rabbit). A popular culture manifestation of this tradition can be found in the character title character of Sailor Moon, whose name is Usagi Tsukino, a Japanese pun on the words "rabbit of the moon." Similarly, Japanese-American Stan Sakai's comic book character Usagi Miyamoto from Usagi Yojimbo is an anthropomorphized rabbit who is a samurai, based loosely on Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.
- A Korean myth similar to the Japanese counterpart also presents rabbitslliving on the moon making rice cakes (Tteok in Korean), although not specified as mochi (rice cakes that have sweet red bean paste fillings).
- In Aztec mythology, a pantheon of four hundred rabbit gods known as Centzon Totochtin, led by Ometotchtli or Two Rabbit, represented fertility, parties, and drunkenness.
- In Native American Ojibwe mythology, Nanabozho, or Great Rabbit, is an important deity releated to the creation of the world.
- In the folklore of the United States, a rabbit's foot is frequently carried as an amulet, and is often used as keychain, where it is thought to bring luck. The practice derives from the system of African-American folk magic called hoodoo.
- In Central Africa "Kalulu" the rabbit is widely known as a tricky character, getting the better of bargains. [citation needed]
- In Jewish folklore, rabbits (shfanim) are associated with cowardice.
On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and speaking its name can cause upset with older residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the quarrying industry, where piles of extracted stone (not fit for sale) were built into tall rough walls (to save space) directly behind the working quarry face; the rabbit's natural tendency to burrow would weaken these "walls" and cause collapse, often resulting in injuries or even death.
The name rabbit is often substituted with words such as “long ears” or “underground mutton”, so as not to have to say the proper name and bring bad luck to one’s self. It is said that a Public House (on the Island) can be cleared of people by calling out the word rabbit and while this was very true in the past, it has gradually become more fable than fact over the past 50 years.
Other fictional rabbits
The rabbit as trickster appears in American popular culture; for example the Br'er Rabbit character from African-American folktales and Disney animation; and the Warner Brothers cartoon character Bugs Bunny. Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in a host of works of film, literature, and technology, notably the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; in the popular novel Watership Down, by Richard Adams; Cream the Rabbit, daughter to Vanilla the Rabbit, from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series; and in Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit stories. Also they appear as Rabbids in the Ubisoft game Rayman Raving Rabbids and in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog which is killed by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, and rabbits are featured in both The Goodies episodes (Invasion of the Moon Creatures and Animals). Rabbits are also the subject of one of the first children's stories The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, as well as the Little Golden Books story "The Lively LIttle Rabbit". The Pokémon franchise has also released two new rabbit pokémon, Buneary and its evolution Lopunny.
Urban legends
It was commonly believed that pregnancy tests were based on the idea that a rabbit would die if injected with a pregnant woman's urine. This is not true. However, in the 1920s it was discovered that if the urine contained the hCG, a hormone found in the bodies of pregnant women, the rabbit would display ovarian changes. The rabbit would then be killed to have its ovaries inspected, but the death of the rabbit was not the indicator of the results. Later revisions of the test allowed technicians to inspect the ovaries without killing the animal. A similar test involved injecting Xenopus frogs to make them lay eggs, but animal assays for pregnancy have been made obsolete by faster, cheaper, and simpler modern methods.
Trivia
- Rabbits are incapable of vomiting due to the physiology of their digestive system.[4]