The Private Life of a Rabbit (Continued)


The doe has a seven-day estrous cycle, and lets the buck know when she is ready.  She is a homebody and the center of the warren.

Bucks reach fertility before the doe, and his potency is determined by the size of his testes.  During impotent seasons the testes are reabsorbed into the abdomen.  It is the buck who controls the breeding season.

In unfavorable conditions, the doe will reabsorb the embryos half way through the gestation (about 15 days), such as drought and overpopulation.

Mating is an enjoyed ritual with dancing, flirting, grunting and grooming, and usually done after sunset.  Some couples are monogamous.

Nest-making (“a stop”) takes place at night, and so does the suckling of the newborns.  The doe visits her nest once every 24 hours.  Bucks show no interest in the young but they are allowed to stay with the family. 

Newborns weigh under two ounces at birth.  The eighth day have fur and hearing.  The tenth day the eyes open.

Under ideal conditions a doe can produce 60 kittens a year.

Sex ratio is 100 males to 110 females.

Rabbits are moody, like to watch sexual activity (and are aroused by it), and will fight if they think they can win.

Rabbits can fight fiercely, even to the death in establishing territorial rights, or against predators.

A “crash” happens when the warrens become overpopulated which causes malnutrition and disease, and most of the rabbits die out.

Death by fear, shock, and even insult and chagrin can happen to a rabbit.

Rabbits “chew the cud” (actually they swallow the cerographs, the soft pellets, whole).

Rabbits are mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus 14 & Dueteronomy 18 as unclean for the Israelites to eat.

The average number of hard pellets dropped a day is 360, weighing four ounces.

Hard pellets and urine are not found in the warren.  Rabbits constantly groom themselves (and each other).

Hard pellets will last 3-4 days on the ground.  

Wind does not bother the rabbits, and they will graze in the rain.

Ten rabbits eat the equivalent of one 120 pound sheep.

Good grassland can sustain 40 rabbits per acre.

Rabbits survive drought better than heavy rainfall.

Adult rabbits are hard for predators to catch.  Only a Golden Eagle can carry one away.  The weak and young are preyed upon.

Average lifespan of the wild rabbit is 18 months.  Some live five years, and in captivity ten years.

Myxomatosis is only fatal to rabbits (hares are immune)

Myxoma virus first discovered in 1897.  It takes ten days to die once infected, causing the swelling of the organs.  It is carried by fleas and mosquitoes.  The infected rabbits look repulsive but do not seem to be in that much pain.  (“Myxy” the popular name for it).

When emigrating most of the rabbits will die.

The Private Life of the Rabbit is a great source for the study of wild rabbits, and is a must for one’s library of rabbit books.  This book will stimulate further study of these amazing, intelligent creatures of God.  And now, thanks to the House Rabbit Movement millions of households are learning how the descendants of these wild animals, our precious bunnies, are the greatest of pets. 

R. M. Lockey begins his study of wild rabbits with how they are so human, and he ends his book with saying how humans are so rabbit.