Prey behaviours

Behaviours associated with rabbits’ need to avoid predation

 

Alertness • Approaching cautiously • Binkying • Biting • Boxing • Clearing routes • Crepuscular • Ears • Eyes • Fighting • Freezing • Growling/grunting • Hiding • Hiding pain • Hopping • Jumping • Kicking • Listening • Looking • Lunging • Nose • Panting • Parallaxing • Periscoping • Rapid breathing • Reacting to danger • Rearing up • Running • Scanning • Scratching • Sheltering • Smelling • Standing on hind legs • Tail • Throwing/tossing • Thumping • Trancing/tonic immobility • Twitching nose • Vigilance • Zooming

 

Behaviours summary

Wild rabbits are prey for around 50 species. Every aspect of their life is adapted to their status as prey animals, including their physiology, activity, and communication. Unlike other animals, they do not have any defensive adaptation, either to cause harm to their attacker or to protect themselves. (Hedgehogs have spines, electric eels can stun, and wasps have stings). Their fur offers a degree of camouflage, but it is their fear response that most helps them to survive, having evolved to detect, evade, and escape from predators.

Behavioural adaptations for survival include: being crepuscular, which helps to avoid peak hunting times for predators; having highly developed senses which they use for vigilance to detect the presence of a predator; thumping and displaying the white underside of their tail as a warning signal to other rabbits; freezing to avoid being seen; and hopping with speed and agility to hiding places. If captured, they may attempt fighting to defend themselves, or enter tonic immobility. Their ability to breed prolifically ensures that their survival, and their social nature which means there are more eyes, ears, and noses to detect predators, so some rabbits can take turn watching for approaching predators while others in the group eat or rest. It’s also more difficult for a predator to attack a single rabbit if they’re in a group.

Mabel using her ears, eyes, and nose to monitor the living room for danger...
or incoming treats!

 

The prey animal instincts which increase wild rabbits’ chances of survival are still present in domestic rabbits. Although not quite as heightened (our pet rabbits have a reduced flight response, thanks to facing fewer dangers than their wild brethren), these instincts are manifested in many of their behaviours. They are alert creatures, constantly monitoring their environment for danger with their heightened senses, evaluating anything they perceive as a threat, and behaving accordingly, to avoid danger.

It’s hard for us, predators, to comprehend the enormity of our pet rabbits accepting us as harmless. We need to realise that we cannot expect them to trust us simply because we feed them, and we mustn’t assume our rabbits perceive their environment as safe just because we know it is. It’s their nature to be wary of us – rabbits weren’t domesticated for companionship, like dogs; they were domesticated for their meat and fur.

We need to look at things from a rabbit’s perspective, where they are the quarry and we are predators. Regularly, rabbits are abandoned or surrendered to rescue centres because their behaviours have been misunderstood/misinterpreted – their owners have failed to recognise that their pets behave as prey creatures, and not realised just how many things frighten rabbits, the extent of their anxiety, and how they respond to fear. Often, rabbits start life with little human interaction – bred for sale, taken from their family group, and sold directly, or placed on display in a noisy, exposed shop enclosure. They’re usually picked out by children (noisy, unpredictable predators, to a rabbit). They may go to their new home alone, which is stressful for a social creature, or with a litter mate (who won’t necessarily make the best companion later, when hormones kick in). They are likely to be inadequately housed, with no place to hide, exposed to the unfamiliar noises, smells, and sights, and intermittently picked up and held by a human (predator). Some may be carried to an exercise pen, exposed and in unfamiliar territory. Their defensive response to fear and anxiety is then often misinterpreted: freezing and tonic immobility as contentedness, biting as aggression.

It’s imperative that we learn to understand our rabbits’ behaviour from the perspective of a prey animal. They may be frightened by strange or sudden sights, sounds, and smells, and have an instinctive fear of animals that would be their predators in the wild. They need places for sheltering when they feel threatened. We need to be calm around them, and not make sudden noises or movements. Approaching slowly and at their level, not from above, whilst gently chatting to them helps to allay our rabbits (a predator’s approach is quick and silent). It’s best to let a rabbit approach us – if we appear to be taking no notice of them, they are more likely to be overcome by their natural curiosity and come to investigate.

We should avoid picking them up, unless absolutely necessary – in the wild, rabbits are only picked off the ground when a predator catches them, so most rabbits feel terror when lifted (see here for suggested ways to safely pick up our rabbits, for when it is necessary).

Rabbits find it easier to relax, feel safer, and are less likely to become stressed if they have suitable companionship.

Without suitable care, sensitive to their needs as prey animals, our pets can become stressed and unwell. It’s not uncommon for rabbits to suffer gut stasis due to stress and fear. We have a responsibility, as owners, to do everything we can to make them feel secure and comfortable.