Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ), often known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are tiny mammals that belong to the Leporidae family of the order Lagomorpha (together with the hare) (along with the pika). The European rabbit species and its descendants, the world's 305 domestic rabbit breeds, are all members of the Oryctolagus cuniculus genus. There are 13 different species of wild rabbits in the Sylvilagus genus, including seven different varieties of cottontails.
Rabbit and hare are frequently interchanged, which can lead to misunderstanding. For example, jackrabbits are hares, whereas rock hares and hispid hares are rabbits. The size, life history, and preferred habitat of rabbits differ from those of hares. Rabbits are typically smaller than hares and have shorter ears. After a 30–31-day gestation period, they are born without fur and with their eyes closed. They like to dwell in burrows dug into the earth in settings with trees and plants. Hares, on the other hand, are bigger animals that are born fully mature with fur and open eyes following a 42-day gestation period. They favor open environments like prairies, where they build nests in shallow open depressions.
Rabbits have evolved to live in groups as a sociable creatures. Rabbits do not live alone in the wild. They will never be lonely if they have at least one connected partner rabbit. Rabbits are social, but they also have a strong sense of territoriality.
The European rabbit, which has been brought to every continent except Antarctica, is well-known as a wild hunt species as well as a domesticated livestock and pet all over the world. The rabbit is a part of daily life in many parts of the world, serving as food, clothing, a friend, and a source of creative inspiration, thanks to its vast impact on ecologies and civilizations.
Rabbits, which were formerly thought to be rodents, have been shown to have diverged separately and earlier than their rodent counterparts, and to have a variety of characteristics that rodents lack, such as two additional incisors.
Terminology and etymology
"Bucks" are male rabbits, whereas "does" are female rabbits. "Bunny" is another word for a juvenile rabbit, however, it is also used informally (especially by youngsters) to refer to rabbits in general, especially domestic rabbits."Kit" or "kitten" is a phrase that has lately been used to refer to a juvenile rabbit.
Taxonomy
Some of the rabbit's genera and species are listed here.
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Hares are precocial, meaning they are born relatively developed, mobile, and with hair and decent vision, but rabbits are altricial, meaning they are born hairless and blind and require more attention. Hares (and cottontail rabbits) live alone in a small nest above ground, whereas most rabbits live in burrows or warrens in social groupings. Hares are usually bigger than rabbits, with longer ears and larger and longer hind legs. Hares have not been domesticated, although European rabbit descendants are frequently produced as livestock and kept as pets.
Domestication
Rabbits have been domesticated for a long time. Starting in ancient Rome, the European rabbit has been commonly raised as livestock since the Middle Ages. Selective breeding has resulted in a diverse range of rabbit breeds, many of which have been kept as pets since the early nineteenth century. Some rabbit breeds have been created expressly for scientific purposes
Evolution
Since the Eocene Epoch roughly 40 million years ago, when its fossil record first became extensively recorded, the family Leporidae (rabbits and hares) has remained essentially unchanging. Rabbits had already made their way to North America at that time, and they had spent most of their lives there. They had re-established themselves in Asia and spread into Europe by approximately seven million years ago (the Miocene Epoch), resulting in the current distribution.
Biology
They weigh 2-6 kg (female) and 2-5 kg (male) as adults. Average Life expectancy: 5 to 6 years. 28 All teeth are open, rooted, and constantly growing. Rabbits, unlike rats and horses, are unable to vomit. Rabbits have big hind leg bones and well-developed muscles because speed and agility are their primary defenses against predators (especially the fast fox). Rabbits, albeit plantigrade at rest, run on their toes, acquiring a more digitigrade posture. Rabbits utilize their powerful claws for digging and defense (together with their fangs).
There are four toes on each front foot, plus a dewclaw. There are four toes on each hind foot (but no dewclaw). The majority of wild rabbits have large, egg-shaped bodies (particularly when compared to hares). The wild rabbit's silky coat is agouti in coloring (or, in rare cases, melanistic), which helps it blend in with its surroundings. The rabbit's tail is black on top and white below, with the exception of cottontails. The tops of the cottontails' tails are white. The rabbit has a nearly 360-degree field of vision, with just a little blind spot at the bridge of the nose, because of the location of its eyes in its skull.
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Components of the hind limb
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Rabbits' hind limbs are physically comparable to those of other terrestrial animals, which contributes to their unique movement. The femur's spherical head articulates with the acetabulum of the ox coxae, much like it does with other terrestrial animals. Rabbits have longer rear limbs than front limbs. Longer hind limbs are more capable of creating quicker speeds, which allows them to perform their hopping mode of movement. Hares, with their larger legs, can run far quicker than cottontail rabbits. Digitigrade locomotion describes rabbits' ability to move solely on their toes. Their agility and speed are enhanced by skeletal modifications including lengthened hind limbs and a stronger pelvic girdle (up to 80 km [50 miles] per hour).
Ears
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The ears are used by lagomorphs to identify and evade predators. Ears of the Leporidae family are generally longer than they are broad. Black-tailed jackrabbits, for example, have long ears that cover a larger surface area than their body size, allowing them to detect predators from a distance. Because the outer, middle, and inner ear muscles interact with one another, rabbits' ears are a crucial feature for thermoregulation and detecting predators. When fleeing predators, the ear muscles also contribute to balance and mobility.
Thermoregulation
The process through which an organism maintains an ideal body temperature regardless of environmental conditions is known as thermoregulation. The pinnae, which cover the majority of the rabbit's body surface and contain a circulatory network and arteriovenous shunts, are responsible for this process. The ideal body temperature for a rabbit is 38.5–40°C. Their enormous, highly vascularized ears, which may adjust the quantity of blood flow that goes through them, help them maintain body temperature homeostasis.
Reproduction
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| A Male Rabbit Breeding With His mate |
The mature male reproductive system is composed of a seminiferous tubular compartment containing Sertoli cells and an adluminal compartment containing Leydig cells, similar to that of most animals.
The Leydig cells generate testosterone, which regulates desire and gives rise to secondary sex features including the genital tubercle and penis. Most rabbits generate a large number of offspring (kittens) each year, while the paucity of resources may limit this ability. Rabbits' high rates of reproduction are due to a mix of reasons. Rabbits may reproduce at a young age, and many have litters of up to seven young on a regular basis, four or five times a year. Females (does) also have induced ovulation, in which their ovaries release eggs in reaction to copulation rather than following a normal cycle. They can also go into postpartum estrus and conceive right after the litter is delivered. Rabbits have a high risk of embryo death, which can be caused by illness, trauma, inadequate nutrition, or environmental stress, hence a high fertility rate is required to combat this.
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| New Born Baby's |
At birth, newborn rabbits are naked, blind, and defenseless (altricial). Mothers are notoriously indifferent to their children and are nearly absentee parents, breastfeeding their children only once a day and for only a few minutes. Rabbit milk is very nutritious and among the richest of any animals' milk to compensate for this lack of attention. The babies develop quickly, and the majority of them are weaned after approximately a month. Males (bucks) do not help in kitten rearing.
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| A few days after birth |
Habitat
Meadows, woodlands, forests, grasslands, deserts, and marshes are some of the rabbit's favorite places to live. Rabbits live in herds, and the European rabbit, the most well-known species, lives in burrows, often known as rabbit holes. A warren is an aggregation of burrows.
Environmental problems
When rabbits were released into the wild by humans, they caused a slew of environmental issues. Feral rabbit depredation may be a concern for agriculture because of their voracious appetites and rapid reproduction rates. Rabbit populations have been controlled by gassing (fumigation of warrens), obstacles (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting, but illnesses like myxomatosis (myxo or mixi, informally) and calicivirus have shown to be the most successful. Rabbits are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus using a genetically engineered virus in Europe, where they are cultivated on a huge basis. Rabbit farmers benefit from the virus, which was created in Spain. It could cause a population boom if it spreads to wild populations in places like Australia, as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival. Rabbits are considered such a problem in Australia and New Zealand that landowners are legally required to manage them.
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