Rabbit

The rabbit is a small, furry mammal with long ears, a short fluffy tail, and strong back legs built for hopping. Rabbits live on every continent except Antarctica. There are more than 30 species in the wild, and one of them, the European rabbit, is the ancestor of every pet rabbit in the world.

Rabbits are built to run. Their back legs are much longer than their front legs. A cottontail rabbit can leap almost ten feet in a single bound. It can also run up to 35 miles per hour, about as fast as a car on a neighborhood street. When a rabbit spots danger, it zigzags to confuse whatever is chasing it.

Those long ears do more than listen. A rabbit can turn each ear on its own to find where a sound is coming from. The ears also help the rabbit stay cool. Blood flows through them close to the skin, and heat escapes into the air. Rabbits that live in hot places, like the desert jackrabbit, have especially big ears.

Rabbits eat only plants. They munch on grass, leaves, bark, clover, and vegetables. Their front teeth grow their whole lives, so they have to keep chewing to wear the teeth down. Rabbits also eat some of their own droppings. This sounds strange, but it lets them pull more nutrients out of tough plants the second time through.

Most rabbits live in underground burrows called warrens. A warren can be huge, with many tunnels and rooms for dozens of rabbits. European rabbits live in warrens, but North American cottontails usually rest above ground in small hidden nests.

Rabbits have a lot of babies. A mother rabbit can have five or six litters in a single year, with three to eight babies in each one. Baby rabbits are called kits. They need so many babies because almost every larger predator will eat them, including foxes, coyotes, hawks, owls, and snakes.

That constant danger has shaped how humans picture rabbits too. In folktales from around the world, the rabbit is often a clever trickster who outsmarts stronger animals. Brer Rabbit in the American South, the hare who races the tortoise in Aesop's fables, and the Moon Rabbit in East Asian mythology are all versions of this idea. The rabbit is also a spring symbol tied to new life, which is why the Easter Bunny brings eggs to children each year.