98 Fun Facts About Bunny

To which mammalian order do rabbits belong, sharing it with pikas and hares?

Rabbits, hares, and pikas are all classified under the order Lagomorpha. They were once grouped with rodents but were reclassified due to distinct anatomical differences, such as having two sets of upper incisors.

Which high-fibre food is essential to every rabbit's diet and a major component of commercial pellets?

Hay is the fibre staple: grass hay such as timothy should make up most of a rabbit's diet and is the main ingredient of commercial pellets; rabbits short of it risk fatal gastrointestinal stasis.

What feature of a rabbit's anatomy gives it a panoramic field of vision of nearly 360 degrees?

Eyes placed on the sides of the skull, plus a large cornea, give the panorama, and a good deal of it is devoted to scanning overhead for birds of prey.

Which body part primarily assists a rabbit in regulating its body temperature?

Rabbits have few to no sweat glands, so they shed heat by changing blood flow through the ears, which are longer in warm climates.

All domestic rabbit breeds are believed to have descended from which wild species?

The European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is the ancestor of all domestic rabbit breeds seen today. Its domestication began in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France.

Which continent has suffered major ecological damage from introduced European rabbits?

Australia's plague traces to Thomas Austin's release of at least 13 rabbits at Barwon Park, Victoria, in October 1859; within ten years two million a year could be shot without denting the population.

Because rabbits cannot vomit, a low-fibre diet can lead to which dangerous condition?

Intestinal blockage: a rabbit cannot vomit, so indigestible matter and a diet short of hay can bring the gut to a halt (gastrointestinal stasis), which is often fatal without treatment.

What is the approximate normal body temperature range for a healthy rabbit?

Rabbits return to that range by adjusting blood flow through highly vascularised body parts.

Which tiny breed was created by crossing Polish rabbits with small wild rabbits?

The Netherland Dwarf breed was developed in the Netherlands by breeding small Polish rabbits with smaller wild rabbits, resulting in one of the smallest domestic rabbit breeds.

How do rabbits differ from most rodents in the way their teeth grow?

Every one keeps growing: a rabbit's incisors and cheek teeth are all open-rooted and grow throughout life, worn down by chewing fibrous grass, whereas in most rodents only the incisors are ever-growing.

Rabbits have how many toes on each hind foot?

Four: each hind foot carries four long toes, while the front paws have five including a dewclaw; rabbits run on their toes, with fur rather than bare pads underneath.

When a rabbit performs a sudden, joyful leap and twist in the air, what is this behavior commonly called?

Binkying: a binky is the leap-and-twist a contented rabbit performs, often mid-run; thumping the hind legs is the opposite signal, showing alarm or annoyance.

What is it called when a rabbit rubs the scent gland under its jaw on objects or people to mark them?

Chinning in wild European rabbits signals readiness to mate as well as marking territory, using an odoriferous secretion from a chin gland.

How do newborn rabbits differ from newborn hares?

They are born blind and helpless: rabbit kits are altricial, naked and blind in a fur-lined burrow nest, whereas leverets arrive furred, open-eyed and able to move within hours.

The Easter Bunny tradition, in which a hare judged whether children had been good, originated among which religious group?

German Lutherans: their 'Easter Hare' (Osterhase) judged whether children had been good before bringing eggs, a custom first recorded in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (1682).

Bugs Bunny's definitive characterisation debuted in which 1940 Tex Avery short?

A Wild Hare (1940), directed by Tex Avery, gave Bugs his familiar voice and 'What's up, Doc?'; a prototype had appeared in Ben Hardaway's Porky's Hare Hunt (1938).

Bugs Bunny speaks with an accent from which New York borough?

Brooklyn: Mel Blanc gave Bugs a Flatbush accent blending Brooklyn and Bronx speech; the character starred in more than 160 shorts between 1940 and 1964.

Richard Adams's rabbit epic Watership Down, his debut novel, is set in which county of southern England?

Hampshire is the setting of Adams's debut, which several publishers rejected before it won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize.

In 1903 Peter Rabbit became the first fictional character to be made into what?

A patented stuffed toy: Beatrix Potter patented a Peter Rabbit doll in 1903, making him the oldest licensed character; the six Peter Rabbit books have sold over 150 million copies.

Which settler is blamed for the spread of European rabbits across Australia?

Thomas Austin released wild rabbits for hunting at Barwon Park, Victoria, in 1859 and they overran the continent; a rabbit-proof fence built in Western Australia from 1901 to 1907 failed to hold them back.

Myxoma virus was released against rabbits in the 1950s in Australia, Chile and which European country?

France: in June 1952 Dr Paul-Félix Armand-Delille released myxoma virus on his estate at Maillebois to clear rabbits; it escaped across France and reached Britain in 1953. Its natural hosts are American cottontails.

What is the largest breed of domestic rabbit?

Flemish Giant: records go back to about 1860 in Flanders, and bucks commonly weigh 7 kg (15 lb) or more; it is the ancestor of the Belgian Hare and several other giant breeds.

The Angora rabbit, bred for its long wool, is said to have originated in which country?

Turkey: the Angora is said to have originated around Ankara, once called Angora, and reached France in 1723; the ARBA recognises four Angora breeds: English, French, Giant and Satin.

In Chinese folklore the Moon rabbit Yutu is the companion of which Moon goddess?

Chang'e: the Moon goddess lives on the Moon with the Jade Rabbit (Yutu), who pounds the elixir of life with mortar and pestle; in Japan and Korea the rabbit pounds rice cakes instead.

Until the 18th century an adult rabbit was a 'coney'; the word 'rabbit' originally meant only what?

The young animals: until the 18th century 'coney' (from Latin cuniculus) named the adult and 'rabbit' only the young, much as 'cat' and 'kitten' are used today.

"Bunny" is a diminutive of "bun", a Scottish word for rabbits and which other animal?

Squirrels: 'bun' was a Scots dialect word for a squirrel and later a rabbit, and 'bunny' is its diminutive; 'rabbit' itself derives from the Middle English rabet, borrowed from the Walloon robète.

What are the soft pellets rabbits produce in the cecum and then re-eat called?

Cecotropes: these soft, nutrient-rich pellets form in the cecum and are re-ingested directly, usually while the rabbit rests underground, so their vitamins and protein can be absorbed in the small intestine.

How many rabbit gods made up the Aztec Centzon Totochtin, deities of fertility and drunkenness?

Four hundred: Centzon Totochtin means '400 rabbits', a number the Aztecs used for 'countless'; they were led by Ometochtli, 'Two Rabbit', and Aztecs also linked rabbits with the moon.

In Anishinaabe belief, which 'Great Rabbit' is an important deity linked to the creation of the world?

Nanabozho, the Anishinaabe culture hero also called the Great Rabbit (Mishaabooz), helped shape the world after the flood; rabbits are tricksters in many cultures, from Central Africa's Kalulu to Br'er Rabbit.

In the Vietnamese zodiac, which animal takes the place of the rabbit found in the Chinese zodiac?

The cat: Vietnam's zodiac keeps the other eleven animals but swaps the rabbit for the cat, possibly because the Chinese branch name for the rabbit year (mǎo) sounded like the Vietnamese word for cat (mèo).

The Bible's 'coney' is a mistranslation of the Hebrew shfanim, which actually refers to what animal?

Early English translators knew no hyraxes in northern Europe and guessed 'rabbit'.

Hares can sprint at up to what speed over short distances?

80 km/h (50 mph) is the sprint figure; North American jackrabbits, which are hares, can hold 65 km/h over longer distances and leap 3 metres.

The idiom 'mad as a March hare' comes from what springtime behaviour?

Hares 'boxing' each other with their paws: in the spring breeding frenzy does fend off over-eager bucks with their forepaws and both sexes join in; hares rest in ground depressions called forms, not burrows.

The 'Belgian hare' kept as a pet is actually what?

A domestic rabbit bred to look leggy: the Belgian Hare is a fancy breed of Oryctolagus cuniculus selected for a long, arched, hare-like body; true hares belong to the genus Lepus, several of which are called jackrabbits.

The rabbit-duck illusion first appeared in 1892 in Fliegende Blätter, a humour magazine from which country?

Germany: Fliegende Blätter was a Munich humour weekly whose 23 October 1892 issue ran the drawing; Ludwig Wittgenstein later used it in Philosophical Investigations to illustrate 'seeing that' versus 'seeing as'.

In North American superstition, which of a rabbit's paws makes a lucky charm?

The left hind: the charm must be a rabbit's left hind foot, and some versions add that the animal must be taken in a cemetery or on a Friday, ideally a rainy one or Friday the 13th.

The Playboy Bunny outfit was the first commercial uniform to be granted what?

A registered US trademark: the costume was the first commercial uniform registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office; Ilse Taurins' mother sewed the prototype and Chicago's Kabo Corset Company mass-produced it.

Watership Down began as stories Richard Adams told to whom on long car journeys?

His two daughters, Juliet and Rosamond, insisted he write the car-journey stories down; the leader Hazel was modelled on his commanding officer, Major John Gifford.

In Watership Down, which runty young rabbit's frightening vision sets the exodus from Sandleford in motion?

Fiver, Hazel's undersized younger brother, foresees the destruction of the Sandleford warren and persuades a small band to flee; the warrior Bigwig was modelled on Captain Desmond Kavanagh, an officer Adams served with.

What are the names of Peter Rabbit's three sisters?

Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail share the sand-bank burrow with Peter under the fir-tree roots; the trade edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit sold 28,000 copies in 1903 alone.

How many copies has The Tale of Peter Rabbit alone sold worldwide, roughly?

More than 40 million: The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold upwards of 45 million copies since 1902, and the full six-book series had passed 150 million copies in 35 languages by 2008.

How large are typical rabbit litters?

Four to twelve kits: a doe typically bears four to twelve kits per litter and, with no fixed breeding season, can raise several litters a year; the young are weaned at about four weeks.

The earliest known ancestor of rabbits and hares lived 55 million years ago in what is now which country?

Mongolia: Gomphos elkema, a roughly 55-million-year-old fossil from Mongolia, is the oldest known lagomorph; rabbits and rodents are grouped together in the clade Glires, an idea Linnaeus first proposed.

Which country, along with Russia, Italy and Spain, ranks among the largest producers of rabbit meat?

Rabbit fur is largely a by-product of meat production, unlike mink which is bred for fur.

Roughly how long is a rabbit's pregnancy?

About a month: a doe's gestation runs roughly 28 to 33 days, averaging about 31; a longer gestation generally yields a smaller litter, and she can mate again within hours of giving birth.

How often does a mother rabbit typically return to the nest to nurse her kits?

Once every 24 hours: the doe visits the nest just once a day, usually at night, nursing for only a few minutes before leaving the kits alone again; her rich milk sustains them between visits.

Rabbits are most active at which time of day?

Dawn and dusk: rabbits are crepuscular, feeding at twilight when predators are least active; in captivity they sleep about 8.4 hours a day, often with their eyes open.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease was first described in 1984 in Angora rabbits imported into which country?

The rabbits came from Germany to Jiangsu; the RHDV2 strain, which also hits hares, appeared in France in 2010.

Which biological principle linking climate to ear and limb length was derived from hares' ears?

Rabbits and hares in warm climates have larger ear surface areas to shed heat, since they have few or no sweat glands.

The pygmy rabbit, the world's smallest leporid, is native to which country?

United States: the pygmy rabbit lives in the sagebrush country of the Great Basin, where adults weigh only 375 to 500 grams, and unlike most American rabbits it digs its own burrows.

The volcano rabbit, or teporingo, survives on volcanic slopes just outside which capital?

Mexico City: the volcano rabbit clings to pine-bunchgrass slopes on volcanoes such as Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl just south-east of the capital, and unlike most rabbits it gives high-pitched pika-like warning calls instead of thumping.

The Amami rabbit, often called a living fossil, survives on two islands of which country?

Japan: the Amami rabbit survives only on Amami Ōshima and Tokunoshima in the Ryukyu chain; its ancestors once roamed the Asian mainland, and only a few thousand are thought to remain.

Snowshoe hare numbers famously rise and fall in a cycle tied to which predator?

Canada lynx: Hudson's Bay Company fur-trapping records spanning decades show lynx and snowshoe hare numbers rising and crashing together on a roughly ten-year cycle, a textbook predator–prey case.

The English Lop's ears can reach roughly what length measured tip to tip?

79 cm (31 in): an English Lop named Nipper's Geronimo holds the record at 79 cm (31.1 in) tip to tip; believed to be the first lop breed ever developed, its ears reach full length within a few months.

Adrian de Cock, the breeder who created the Holland Lop, worked in which Dutch city?

Tilburg: Adrian de Cock, a Tilburg breeder, began crossing over-sized French Lops with under-sized Netherland Dwarfs in 1949 to hit a middle size; the breed was recognised in the Netherlands in 1964.

A Himalayan rabbit's dark points appear because its pigment forms only in what condition?

Below a certain temperature: the Himalayan's pigment enzyme works only in cooler skin, so colour appears on the ears, nose, feet and tail; kits develop dark bands if the nest gets cold, and adults darken against cold objects.

What feature, caused by a single gene, gives the Lionhead rabbit its name?

The mane gene is separate from the gene that produces full wool coats in Angora-type breeds.

In 2006 Disney regained Oswald the Lucky Rabbit by trading which sportscaster to NBC?

Al Michaels: Disney released the sportscaster from ABC to NBC in 2006 in a deal that returned Oswald's rights from Universal; Oswald predates Mickey Mouse, whom Disney created after losing the rabbit in 1928.

In the 1950 film Harvey, James Stewart's invisible white rabbit friend stands how tall?

6 ft 3½ in: Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart) describes Harvey as six feet three and a half inches tall and introduces him to everyone, which alarms his sister enough to seek a sanatorium.

In Harvey, Elwood P. Dowd calls his rabbit friend what kind of creature from Celtic myth?

A púca: Elwood explains that Harvey is a pooka, a shape-shifting spirit of Celtic folklore fond of 'rum-pots, crackpots'; Mary Chase's 1944 play earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945.

Disney's Thumper was adapted from which character in Felix Salten's 1923 novel Bambi?

Friend Hare, a minor character in Salten's novel, became Thumper; four-year-old voice actor Peter Behn was so lively that the small part grew into a major one in the 1942 film.

Miffy, the picture-book rabbit known as Nijntje in Dutch, was created by which artist?

Dick Bruna, a Dutch illustrator from Utrecht, drew the first Miffy book in 1955; the Dutch name Nijntje is a toddler's shortening of konijntje, 'little rabbit'.

The Velveteen Rabbit (1922), about a toy that longs to become real, was written by whom?

Margery Williams published The Velveteen Rabbit in 1922 with illustrations by William Nicholson; the toy is made real by the nursery magic Fairy after being loved threadbare by its boy.

Who narrates the Bunnicula books, about a 'vampire' rabbit that drains vegetable juice?

Harold, the family dog, narrates the books and supposedly delivers the manuscripts himself; authors Deborah and James Howe never confirm whether Bunnicula is truly a vampire, though the cat Chester is certain.

Br'er Rabbit tales have been linked to Leuk, a trickster from which country's folklore?

Senegal: Leuk the hare is the trickster of Wolof folklore, and his plots resemble Br'er Rabbit's; in Akan tradition similar tales belong to Anansi the spider, and Joel Chandler Harris made them famous as Uncle Remus.

In Monty Python's Grail quest, King Arthur destroys the killer rabbit with what weapon?

The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch: after Brother Maynard reads from the Book of Armaments, Arthur lobs the grenade on the count of three; the beast had already killed several knights at the Cave of Caerbannog.

Which Monty Python character leads Arthur to the cave of the Rabbit of Caerbannog?

Tim the Enchanter, played by John Cleese, conjures fireballs and leads the knights to the Cave of Caerbannog, warning of 'the most foul, cruel and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on'.

In Donnie Darko, Frank the rabbit-costumed figure says the world ends in how many days?

The countdown runs 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds; filming also took exactly 28 days.

Which General Mills cereal's rabbit mascot is forever told the cereal is 'for kids'?

Trix: copywriter Joe Harris created the Trix Rabbit and the 'Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids' tagline for a 1959 commercial, and the rabbit has been denied the fruity cereal ever since.

Which feminist writer went undercover as a Playboy Bunny in 1963 for the exposé 'A Bunny's Tale'?

Gloria Steinem worked at the New York Playboy Club for Show magazine, and Hugh Hefner responded by dropping the requirement that Bunnies undergo gynecological exams.

Which rabbit has an endangered Florida Keys subspecies named hefneri, after Hugh Hefner?

Marsh rabbit: the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, was named in 1984 after the Playboy Foundation funded research on it, and it survives only in the Lower Florida Keys.

Bad Bunny's El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020) was the first what to top the Billboard 200?

All-Spanish-language album: in December 2020 it became the first album entirely in Spanish to reach number one on the Billboard 200; its lead single 'Dakiti' topped the Billboard Global 200 at the same time.

Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, comes from which Caribbean territory?

Puerto Rico: Bad Bunny was born in Vega Baja in 1994 and bagged groceries at a supermarket while uploading songs to SoundCloud before his 2016 breakthrough single 'Diles'.

Bunny Wailer founded The Wailers alongside Bob Marley and which other singer?

Peter Tosh: Livingston, Marley and Tosh formed the Wailing Wailers in Kingston in 1963; born Neville O'Riley Livingston, Bunny won three Grammy Awards over a long solo career.

In 8 Mile, B-Rabbit's best friend David Porter hosts rap battles under which stage name?

B-Rabbit freezes with stage fright at Future's battle early on; 'Lose Yourself' later won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Which 1987 thriller coined 'bunny boiler' with a scene of a pet rabbit cooked on a stove?

Fatal Attraction: Glenn Close's Alex Forrest boils the Gallagher family's pet rabbit, giving English the phrase 'bunny boiler'; Close was nearly passed over because producers doubted she could seem 'sexual enough'.

Jeff Koons's steel Rabbit set a living-artist auction record in 2019 by selling for how much?

$91.1 million: Christie's New York sold the 1986 stainless-steel Rabbit, one of an edition of three, from the estate of publisher S.I. Newhouse in May 2019, the highest auction price for a living artist at the time.

Albrecht Dürer's 1502 watercolour Young Hare is held by which museum?

Albertina, Vienna: the Albertina holds Young Hare among its Dürer drawings and shows it only rarely to protect the watercolour from light; the work passed through Emperor Rudolf II's collection before reaching the museum.

Which Roman province was nicknamed the 'land of the rabbits'?

Hispania: Hadrian's coins personify Hispania as a reclining woman with a rabbit at her feet, and Catullus called the region 'cuniculosa', rabbit-rich; one folk etymology derives the name from Phoenician for 'land of hyraxes'.

Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, is famous for electing what kind of mayor since 1998?

Dogs: the first canine mayor, a mutt called Goofy Borneman-Calhoun, was elected in 1998; the elections double as fundraisers for the town's historic general store, with votes sold for a dollar each.

Japan's Ōkunoshima, nicknamed 'Rabbit Island', secretly made what from the late 1920s?

Poison gas: from 1929 the island's secret factory made mustard and other gases for the Imperial Army, and it was erased from some maps; its thousands of rabbits likely descend from a 1971 school release, not the test animals.

How long was Australia's No. 1 Rabbit-Proof Fence, the world's longest in 1907?

1,833 km (1,139 mi): No. 1 Fence ran from the south coast to Eighty Mile Beach in the north, and all three fences together stretched 3,256 km; they were meant to keep rabbits out of Western Australia's farmland.

'The rabbit died' became a euphemism for a positive result in which kind of test?

Pregnancy: in the 1930s Friedman test a woman's urine was injected into a rabbit and its ovaries examined for changes; in truth every test rabbit died, because the ovaries had to be dissected to read the result.

In Aesop's fable, what does the hare do midway through the race against the tortoise?

Takes a nap: confident of victory, the hare lies down to sleep mid-race and the plodding tortoise passes him to win; the fable is number 226 in the Perry Index.

In Zootopia (2016), Judy Hopps becomes the first rabbit in the city to hold which job?

Police officer: Judy graduates top of her academy class to become the Zootopia Police Department's first rabbit officer, only for Chief Bogo to assign her to parking duty; Ginnifer Goodwin voices her.

In boxing, a 'rabbit punch' is an illegal blow to which part of the body?

Back of the head: a rabbit punch hits the back of the head or base of the skull, risking spinal injury; the name comes from the gamekeeper's technique of killing a rabbit with one sharp blow to the neck.

Welsh rarebit, first recorded in 1725 as 'Welsh rabbit', is essentially what dish?

Cheese sauce on toast: a savoury sauce of melted cheese, often with ale and mustard, poured over toasted bread; the 'rabbit' name was a joke at the Welsh, and the 'rarebit' spelling only turned up in 1781.

Saying 'rabbit rabbit' aloud on waking is a luck superstition for which day?

First day of a month: saying 'rabbit rabbit' (or 'white rabbits') before anything else on the first morning of the month is said to bring luck; it was first recorded in Notes and Queries in 1909 as something children said.

In Beatrix Potter's 1904 sequel, which cousin joins Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor's garden?

Benjamin Bunny, Peter's cousin, leads him back into the garden to retrieve the clothes Peter lost there, and both end up trapped under a basket by the cat; thousands of copies were in print by the end of 1904.

Lola Bunny made her first appearance in which 1996 film?

Space Jam introduced Lola Bunny in 1996 as Bugs's love interest and a star of the Tune Squad basketball team; Kath Soucie provided her voice.

What colour are the eyes of an albino rabbit?

Pink: albino rabbits make no melanin, so the eye shows the blood vessels of the retina; the ruby-eyed white is a standard show variety in breeds such as the New Zealand White.

Who invented the mechanical hare of modern greyhound racing in 1912?

Owen Patrick Smith, an American, patented the mechanical lure in 1912 and opened the first oval track at Emeryville, California, in 1919; the press called it the 'automatic rabbit', and the sport reached Britain in 1926.

In Through the Looking-Glass, the March Hare returns as a messenger under what name?

Haigha: Carroll said the name should be pronounced to rhyme with 'mayor', which sounds like 'hare' in non-rhotic English; his fellow messenger Hatta is the Hatter.

In Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid, named what?

Mary Ann: the White Rabbit orders 'Mary Ann' to fetch his gloves and fan, taking Alice for his housemaid; she then grows too large inside his house and gets stuck, and he later serves as herald at the trial.

Which Art Garfunkel song from Watership Down was Britain's best-selling single of 1979?

Bright Eyes: Mike Batt wrote it after the film's original director asked for a song about death; Garfunkel's version spent six weeks at number one in spring 1979 and outsold every other single that year.

Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' appears on which 1967 album?

Surrealistic Pillow, released in February 1967, carried both 'White Rabbit' and 'Somebody to Love'; Grace Slick wrote 'White Rabbit', which entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

The jackalope hoax was popularised in the 1930s by taxidermists in which US state?

Wyoming: Douglas Herrick and his brother Ralph of Douglas, Wyoming, grafted deer antlers onto a jackrabbit carcass in the 1930s and sold it to the local La Bonte Hotel, spawning a souvenir industry.

Night of the Lepus (1972), about giant killer rabbits, starred which Psycho actress?

Janet Leigh, Psycho's shower victim, starred opposite Stuart Whitman in Night of the Lepus; the attack scenes used ordinary domestic rabbits on miniature sets plus actors in rabbit costumes.