Facinating Rabbit Facts
I was munching on a cereal bar and noticed that the ‘did you know…’ fact on the wrapper was appropriately rabbit themed. So, did you know there were 40 million wild rabbits in the UK? That’s a lot of bunnies!
I thought I’d dig out a few more rabbit facts…
Did you know there are between 1.6 and 2 million pet rabbits in the UK? About 5% of the population have a pet rabbit (or two). Not quite up to the number of wild rabbits but that’s still a lot of bunnies.
Did you know rabbits are not rodents? They often get lumped in with rodents but they are actually lagomorphs. The most obvious difference is their extra teeth. Tucked behind the upper incisors, rabbits have a second set of teeth called peg teeth. Rodents don’t have these. Other difference include diet (rabbits being grass eating herbivores and many rodents omnivores) and their digestive system.
Did you know the rabbit long jump record is a whooping 3m (10ft)? It was set in 1999 by a Danish rabbit called Yabo. The high jump record is 99.5cm (also held by a Danish rabbit). I’d love to know how far/high Scamp can jump but I don’t want to encourage him to get even more daring.
Did you know rabbits have 28 teeth which grow continually throughout their lives? Their 6 incisors (remember the peg teeth) grow at a rate of 1-3mm per week and the 22 back teeth (molars) around the same per month.
Did you know a rabbit can chew 120 times per minute and has 17,000 taste buds (compared to the 7000 we have)? No wonder their teeth grow so much – that’s a lot of chewing.
Anyone else know any interesting facts about bunnies?
Ps. Scamp asked me to pass on his thanks for the get well soon wishes – he’s completely back to normal now 🙂
Tags: teeth
I didn’t all of these facts but I know some of them. Here’s one that I remember and have tried confirm, but without success, but I KNOW I read it: the closet cousin to the rabbit is in fact the horse, this based on physiology and anatomy…….