Rabbits are soft fur balls that we all want to keep as pets. Though they are found in the entire world, half of their population resides in North America. Woods and forests, grasslands and wetlands- wild rabbits can be found anywhere.
While this species is being domesticated these days, you must know the details if you want them as pets, right? Seeing the fur all over with bushy tails might make you feel they are rodents. But is a rabbit a rodent? Well, no, rabbits are not rodents.
You can blame the history of rabbits for this confusion. And here, we will sort out the confusion between rabbits and rodents, stay tuned!
Is a Rabbit or Bunny a Rodents?
A lot of people often think that rabbits and bunnies are different. But well, they are the same! Rabbits are often called bunnies. And you can call a baby rabbit a bunny too.
As we said before, rabbits or bunnies are not rodents. Instead, they fall under the order of Lagomorpha. On the other hand, all the rodents are under the Rodentia order.
Rabbits are just like the bigger mice- you can’t deny that. However, you can always say that rabbits are prettier- aren’t they?
Though now, rabbits are classified in the order of Lagomorpha, it is not like this before 1912. Yes, before 1912, rabbits too were categorized in the order of Rodentia. Later, they were moved to the new order Lagomorpha. The family of rabbits is Leporidae.
Yes, a lot of characteristics of rabbits match with the rodents- but there are differences too. And this is why they were divided into a new order in the 20th century. The same goes for the hares. They too were considered to be rodents until this period.
Why are Rabbits not Rodents?
Different Digestive System
The very first thing that draws the line between rabbits and rodents is their digestive system. In the case of a rabbit’s digestive system, the cecum sits in the large intestine.
More precisely, it is located at the top part of the large intestine. From there, it houses the necessary bacteria.
These animals require maximizing their vegetation digestion. As a result, they eat their food twice! This helps them to absorb the nutrients better.
The Diet
Rabbits are herbivorous and their diet depends on vegetation mostly. In this case, you might say that rodents also depend on vegetation- yes, it’s true.
Vegetation, fruits, and such, are for both rodents and rabbits. They have a closely related diet. However, rodents can go for grains, roots, seeds, etc. if they want. But the rabbits require vegetation to survive.
Incisor Teeth
One of the chief characteristics of rodents is their two incisors and they are quite famous for this. In the case of the rabbits, they have incisor teeth too but compared to the rodents, rabbits have four.
If you check the rear part of their top incisors, you will see them having a smaller set of peg-like teeth there. This set is smaller than the first set of incisors. These teeth are for biting through the vegetation properly.
Another fact to note is the color of the incisor teeth. Rodents have them in orange color but the ones of the rabbits are white.
Note: At times, the teeth can get misaligned too. These cause the rabbits dental issues.
Wrap Up
Though there are slight differences in the diet, we must say that the order and family division of the rabbits are mostly dependent on physical features.
Rabbits might look like rodents but their teeth structure and color, and especially their digestive system makes them different from the other rodents.
