Behaviour

How to meet our rabbits' need to be able to
exhibit normal behaviour patterns

What are normal behaviour patterns?

If we are responsible for a rabbit, we must ensure that its “need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns” is met (the third Welfare Need listed under the Animal Welfare Act, 2006). But what are rabbits' normal behaviour patterns?

A behaviour is an observable act or reaction, produced in response to a situation. It could be the response to thoughts and feelings, or to the environment and what’s happening in it. It can be voluntary or involuntary, based on instinct, or learned from experiences. 

Ebony demonstrating the rabbit behaviour of digging, at the expense of poor Dijon's clean nose. 

Our domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) are descendants of the wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Domestication of rabbits happened relatively recently, and their nature hasn’t changed significantly. They’ve retained their wild ancestors’ instincts, especially the prey animal instincts, and so behave in much the same way as wild rabbits, if we give them the opportunity. Therefore, to appreciate our rabbits’ complex behaviour patterns, it’s vital to understand the nature of their wild ancestors.

The Bunnymad glossary of rabbit behaviours

We’ve attempted the monumental task of creating a comprehensive list of behaviours exhibited by rabbits. Our A-Z includes every normal rabbit behaviour we could think of but please let us know if we’ve forgotten anything! 

Our glossary explains how our pet rabbits exhibit each of the behaviours, and how we can encourage them to perform these important behaviours, by providing appropriate care. 

For ease of use, we’ve classified our glossary of behaviours into four categories, which relate to four areas of rabbit needs: prey behaviours; social behaviours; eating, sleeping, and toileting behaviours; and reproductive behaviours. However, it’s complex: many rabbit behaviours are associated with more than one need (and, therefore, appear under more than one category), and even the categories themselves are inter-related (for example, the reproductive behaviour of breeding prolifically relates to the prey behaviour to needing to guarantee survival of the species).

To use our glossary, you can look at the pages for each of our categories of behaviours, listed below, or scroll further down to the table, where you can read about individual behaviours – just click on the Bunnymad logos in the columns under each of the needs to which the behaviour is associated.

Prey behaviours

Behaviours associated with rabbits’ need to avoid predation.

Social behaviours

Behaviours associated with rabbits’ need to form social groups, socialise, and communicate.

Eating, sleeping, and toileting behaviours

Behaviours associated with rabbits’ daily activities.

Reproductive behaviours

Behaviours associated with rabbits’ need to reproduce.

A-Z of normal rabbit behaviours

Behaviour	Associated need(s)
	Prey	Social	Eating etc.	Repro-ductive
Alertness
Approaching cautiously
Begging
Binkying
Biting
Bowing
Boxing
Butt twitching
Caecotrophs/ caecal droppings (eating)
Chasing
Chewing
Chin rubbing
Circling
Clearing routes
Communicating
Crepuscular
Digging
Dreaming
Drinking
Droppings
Ears
Eating
Eating droppings
Eyes
Fighting
Flattening
Flicking feet
Flopping
Foraging
Freezing
Fur pulling
Grazing
Grinding teeth
Grooming
Growling/grunting
Head flat/ chin on ground
Hiccups
Hiding
Hiding pain
Hierarchical behaviours
Honking
Hopping
Hunching
Jumping
Kicking
Licking
Listening
Loafing
Looking
Lowering head
Lunging
Lying
Mounting
Nesting
Nibbling
Nipping
Nose
Nudging
Panting
Parallaxing
Periscoping
Purring
Rapid breathing
Reacting to danger
Rearing up
Running
Scanning
Scattering droppings
Scent marking
Scratching
Screaming
Shaking
Sheltering
Sitting up
Sleeping
Smelling
Socialising
Splooting
Spraying urine
Squealing
Standing on hind legs
Tail
Teeth chattering/ grinding
Throwing/tossing
Thumping
Toileting behaviours
Trancing/ tonic immobility
Turning back on company
Twitching nose
Urinating
Vigilance
Vocalising
Whimpering
Yawning
Zooming