Pet Animal
Pet Animal Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit Cottontail rabbit and the Amami rabbit. There are many other species of rabbit, and these, along with pikas and hares, make up the order Lagomorpha.
Location and habitat
The rabbit lives in many area around the world. Rabbits live in groups called warrens in underground burrows, or rabbit holes.More the half the rabbit population resides in North America. Meadows, woods, forests, thickets, and grasslands are areas in which rabbits live.
Characteristics and anatomy
Cecal pellets
Rabbits are hindgut digesters. This means that most of their digestion takes place in their large intestine and cecum. In rabbits, the cecum is about 10 times bigger than the stomach, and it, along with the large intestine, makes up roughly 40% of the rabbit’s digestive tract. Cecotropes, sometimes called “night feces”, come from the cecum and are high in minerals, vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit’s health. Rabbits eat these to meet their nutritional requirements. This process allows rabbits to extract the necessary nutrients from their food.
Diet and eating habits
Rabbits are herbivores who feed by grazing on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds. In consequence, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits solve this problem by passing two distinct types of feces: hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are immediately eaten. Rabbits reingest their own droppings (rather than chewing the cud as do cows and many other herbivores) to digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients.
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About the Author
This article has written by Fazal Zubair.
He is a full time IT Manager and It Consultant in Lahore,Pakistan.
He runs several websites and blogs.