LESSON PLAN: BUNNY RABBITS By Susan Johnson Objective: Education is a big part of the Wildlife Waystation’s mission. Lesson plans are available to download for students, teachers and anyone interested in learning more about wild and exotic animals. Rabbits There are several rabbits at the Wildlife Waystation. Their team members bring them food trays and clean their enclosures.

Animal Facts: Rabbits live on every continent on this planet except for Antarctica. They inhabit meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands. More than half of the world’s rabbit population lives in North America. Rabbits can live in a majority of different climates. There are about 30 species of rabbits in this world. Since they chiefly feed on plants, rabbits are considered herbivores. In the wild they graze on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds or if really lucky they can find someone’s bountiful vegetable garden. Yum! Their diets contain large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest. To solve this problem they produce two different types of feces, one in the form of round pellets, the other called caecotrophs, produced in the digestive tract. Rabbits eat the caecotrophs as they come out the anus. This way they can digest their food further and extract sufficient nutrients

Did You Know? Rabbits inhabit every continent but Antarctica.

*** In the UK the rabbit is the third most popular pet.

*** A rabbit can run up to 35 miles per hour.

*** The world’s largest bunny, Darius, weighs 50 pounds and is insured for around $1.6 million.

*** Domestic rabbits are born fur-less.

*** Rabbits can see behind them, but have a blind spot in front of their face.

*** Rabbits have 28 teeth.

*** Happy bunnies jump and twist, which is called a binky, they can jump up to 36 inches.

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since they cannot “chew their cuds” like other herbivores. Rabbits are considered a prey animal, therefore they are quite prolific. One female bunny can have a litter from 1 to 14 kittens (as baby bunnies are called) after a gestation period of 28-31 days and can be impregnated within minutes of giving birth. Hypothetically she could have one litter per month. That is a lot of little bunnies running around in a year. I guess when everyone is looking at you as prey you become a natural born runner, which bunnies are as they can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. I guess when you live life in the fast lane everything moves faster as a bunny’s heartbeats 130-325 a minute and their noses twitch 20-120 times per minute. Bunnies do what is called binky when they are happy by jumping and twisting in the air; they are capable of jumping as high as 36 inches. This can also help them get out of a dangerous situation or over a fence into someone’s delectable garden. Rabbits are such very fascinating creatures and are probably a lot more interesting than people give them credit for. Like did you know that rabbits have two sets of incisor teeth, one behind the other? That they can only sweat through the pads on the bottom of their feet. They purr and groom themselves not unlike a cat. They can pretty much see all the way around them, except for one blind spot right between their eyes. Domestic rabbits are born fur-less. Their teeth never stop growing through their entire life. Rabbits cannot vomit. A four-pound rabbit can drink as much water as a twenty-pound dog. Rabbits can suffer heat stroke and literally be scared to death. Rabbits are one of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. They represent graciousness, kindness sensitivity, compassion, tenderness and elegance. And on top of all of that, they are just so dang cute.

Did You Know? Domestic rabbits cannot breed with wild rabbits.

*** The only place a rabbit sweats is through the pads of its feet.

*** All rabbits live in underground burrows except for the Cottontail rabbits.

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QUIZ & LEARN

1) What are baby rabbits called? 2) What never stops growing on a bunny rabbit? 3) Who are two of the most famous bunnies? 4) What was the original name of an adult rabbit? 5) How many times per minute does a bunnies nose twitch? 6) When are rabbits most active? 7) Who first domesticated rabbits?

(See how you did by checking out the answers at the bottom of the page). Project Create your rabbit pawns and play the Rabbit Hop board game. Download the template from our website. Quiz Answers:

1) Kittens 2) Teeth 3) Bugs Bunny and the Easter Bunny 4) Coney 5) 20-120 times 6) Dawn and Dusk 7) Monks in the 5th Century in France.