Rabbit myth

[Lagomorpheus]

Someone on another message board I frequent claimed that he had two brother bunnies and one ate the other…which just sounds like complete nonsense to me. I just wanted to double-check though, is this something that can happen or is my reasoning correct that herbivores can’t physically “eat” another animal, much less their kin…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I think that’s a load of you know what….hamsters sometimes do this, I think….

Good to see you again Lago!

[Lagomorpheus]

🙂 thanks, nice to see you again too. Hopefully my posts won’t get rated at “one star” any more o_o
lol

[Sage Cat]

When I was a kid we had pet Gerbles. When ever they had a litter – we would try to get them out of the cage before the male ate them.  However, I do not remember if it was to keep his dominance in check or a type of “population control”.

Do you remember the book Watership Down?  (Great book!) In the beginning there is a part about how they are becoming so over populated that the females begin to “absorb” the litters before they are born.

I just found this on a Mississippi State University site:

Rabbit Cannibalism

This situation can be caused by a variety of conditions like when the does become excited by an environmental change or when the nutritional status (usually water) is restricted.

Eating young often occurs when varmints, household pets, rodents, or some other unusual visitor enters the rabbitry soon after the doe has delivered her young. The eating of young is an instinctive survival response of the doe. Restrict all animals and visitors from entering or roaming near the rabbitry. The problems often occur at night when rodents and varmints are more active.

Here is the Link:  http://msucares.com/livestock/small_animal/cann.html

Although – I have never heard of siblings eating each other.

[babybunsmum]

eww really?  thats wierd! 

hey lago!  good to see you

[Lagomorpheus]

Hi, nice to see you too! 🙂

Sage, that is really interesting information…gross, but interesting.

And I am aware of mother rabbits absorbing the fetus in utero during periods of overpopulation (a very cool evolutionary adaptation!!).

[MarkBun]

The reason for this style of eating the young (as it is done by many other animals) is that the mother (or parents) has deemed the area unsafe. As she knows that the newborns will not survive a move, they eat the young to give themselves the extra energy in order to make the escape. It’s an evolutionary trait that kept the parents alive and thereby are here today.

I personally didn’t know rabbits could metabolize meat but I guess even herbivores can handle it once or twice.

[Lagomorpheus]

Will rabbits kill each other when fully grown? For example, if competing for territory or dominance? And in those cases, would they then cannibalize the slain so that predators are not attracted to the carcass as Gerbils and Hampsters do?

[MarkBun]

Combats between buns usually aren’t to the death however a bun could be wounded bad enough that they will later expire from his injuries. However, buns go into hiding when sick or injured, thus avoiding predators from finding them and, as such, it will help hide the corpse as well. I cannot be 100% certain about this but I don’t think buns eat carrion – even for the situation you mention.

[Lagomorpheus]

Cool, thanks for the info – you seem very knowledgeable about rabbit behavior…!

[Author]

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