Rabbit Instincts (Why Rabbits are Born Survivors)

As domesticated pets, bunnies usually have little to fear in the way of predators, especially those lucky enough to live as house pets. However as prey animals in the wild, rabbits have many enemies. Understandably rabbits are nervous animals that are easily scared or startled.

A rabbit’s main tools for survival are an excellent sense of smell, superior ears that can rotate independently from each other through 270 degrees, and a wide sight range. Combined with their acute awareness of danger rabbits have been able to thrive.

Rabbit senses explained

Hearing

A rabbit’s finely tuned hearing is the first of these physical attributes.

You have surely noticed that a rabbit is equipped with very large ears but aside from adding to the overall appealing look of a rabbit, why does a rabbit have such big ears?

They in fact have a couple of important functions!

The first and perhaps the most important in terms of survival is the monitoring of the environment.

Not only is a rabbits hearing far superior to a human with a range of between 360 and 42,000 hertz (a humans being just 64 hertz to 23,000) rabbits are also able to rotate each ear independently through 270 degrees. Rabbit’s ears are thought to be able to pick up sounds from distances estimated to be around 3km.

When a rabbit hears a sound its first response is to adjust the positioning of its head in order to see whatever made the noise. A false alarm and the rabbit will go back to whatever he was doing. The sight of a predator in the distance and the rabbit will know that it’s time to alert the colony (usually by foot-stomping) and quickly get back to the safety of the burrow.

The second function of a rabbit’s ears is cooling.

Some rabbits live in extreme temperatures and would overheat quickly if it wasn’t for those amazing ears. Rabbits do not have many options when it comes to cooling down. They cannot pant as a dog would and their sweat glands (located within the mouth) are small and inefficient.

Instead, in order to cool down, rabbits have evolved large blood vessels in the ears. These assist with regulating the rabbit’s temperature by taking blood as close to the outside air as possible in the thin tissue of the ear where it can be cooled.

Sight

Have you heard the expression ‘(have you got) eyes in the back of your head?)’? Well, a rabbit isn’t too far away from this being reality. A rabbit has eyes that are set high on the sides of its head giving them an extremely wide peripheral range of vision of almost 360 degrees.

They are long-sighted which means that although they are not great at seeing things close up they are able to survey a wide surrounding area (over a large distance). In contrast, predators such as foxes or coyotes have forward-facing eyes (binocular vision) more suited to focusing in on prey.

What all this means is that a rabbit has a great chance of seeing a predator, alerting other members of the colony and being safely back in the burrow before a predator even gets close!

Smell

Rabbit noses are constantly twitching or ‘blinking’ as it is sometimes referred to. If you are an owner you’ve probably noticed this if you’ve ever sat down face to face and talked to your bunny.

If it doesn’t run away immediately (through the strange human looking at it) you’ll probably see its nose twitch a little quicker than usual as it tries to figure out what your intentions are. While this may seem to be without reason, a rabbits nose actually has a few very important functions.

Firstly a bunny nose twitch increases the airflow over the sensitive glands within it allowing a rabbit to identify smells quickly. This is useful for detecting predators or finding food and water. Being able to detect a predator by smell is important as it can give a rabbit vital escape time.

Domesticated rabbits will even recognize the familiar smell of their favorite human. Nose twitching also aids breathing and is used as a means of communication with fellow rabbits. For more information on this endearing rabbit, characteristic read our post detailing exactly why rabbits twitch their noses here.

Touch

Rabbits don’t have hands to feel their way around in the dark like us humans do however a rabbit still uses touch to find its way. A rabbit’s fur is touch-sensitive while its face is equipped with extremely sensitive whiskers which are the same width as the head.

Rabbits use these whiskers in order to determine the width and girth of an opening. As the sensitive whiskers touch the sides of a passageway a signal is sent back to its brain to tell it whether or not it can continue its journey or whether it will need to dig a little more.

If you own a rabbit yourself you may have witnessed these sensitive whiskers for yourself. If you have ever accidentally touched these during petting you will have seen the rabbit react by retreating.

While domesticated rabbits don’t usually have a need to build burrows however the rabbit whiskers are awesome evolutionary tools that help wild rabbits move through the pitch black of their underground burrows.

Taste

Domestic rabbits all have different taste preferences, for example some rabbits love banana while others turn their noses up! Domesticated rabbits are usually spoiled with all manner of treats and a varied selection of the many fruits and vegetables available in supermarkets (domestic rabbits are not usually as athletic looking as their wild cousins!)

When it comes to plants a domesticated rabbit is unlikely to be exposed to anything poisonous as it has a responsible owner to research and provide the rabbit with a safe and suitable diet however a wild rabbit utilizes its well-developed taste buds in order to quickly identify plants, shrubs, and berries that may be good to eat from those that could be poisonous.

How rabbits respond to threats

So we’ve learned how a rabbit’s senses help it to detect danger but how does a rabbit respond? Here is how rabbits give themself a good chance of surviving a dangerous situation.

Freezing

Using its senses a rabbit will often detect a predator before it has any idea that the rabbit is there. Most predators including birds of prey rely on movement in order to spot a potential meal.

When a rabbit spots a predator first the rabbit will instinctively freeze until it determines if it has been spotted. Standing still helps the rabbit to camouflage and blend in with its surroundings. If the predator continues on unaware and the danger passes then this particular rabbit instinct has done its job well.

Running

Although rabbits are an extremely successful species, this freezing response doesn’t guarantee an escape. With so many enemies it’s a given that rabbits will sometimes be spotted by predators.

Once a rabbit determines that its freezing response hasn’t worked and it’s on the lunch menu it’s time to run and hide.

Hiding

Rabbits are very territorial. Rabbit owners will often see domestic rabbits marking their territory around the garden or home by ‘chinning’. This is the term used to describe when rabbits use the scent glands located underneath their chin to mark something as ‘theirs’, be it territory or even a pair of your old slippers!

Rabbits are explorers too so you can rest assured that a rabbit knows its territory well and will know all the places that it is safe to hide in until danger has passed.

Fighting

If all else fails to fight is a rabbit’s last-ditch attempt at survival. Rabbits are perfectly capable of inflicting a nasty kick if cornered by a predator. Any owner who has upset a pet rabbit (perhaps by unintentionally infringing on its territory) can attest to this!

In the wild being cornered by a predator doesn’t usually end well for a rabbit but a kick, scratch or bite might just give the rabbit enough time to escape.

Wrap up

Despite sadly ending up as prey for a lot of animals rabbits are a hugely successful animal species and with the help of these amazing senses and instincts (combined with their physiology) the rabbit will likely continue to thrive long after the human race has become extinct.