RABBITS
We have picked rabbits as our topic because they are fun to write about and are one of our favourite animals. We have been looking forward to writing about them and hope you enjoy it.
Rabbits are very cute and cuddly. They all have long ears, long back legs and a very fluffy tail. Female rabbits are much smaller than male rabbits. Adult rabbits are about 30 centimetres long. They are great friends to have and are also very funny. They are small mammals in the family of Leporidae found in several parts of the world. There are seven different types. There is Pentalagus, Bunolagus, Nesolagus, Romerolagus, Brachylagus, Sylvilagus, Oryctolagus and Poclagus.
Pet rabbits live in hutches and wild ones live underground .Pet rabbits have quite a cosy home because they have straw and a bedroom or their own. While wild rabbits have to live outside in the cold, beneath their holes. They dig holes everywhere such as canals, parks, gardens and churchyards.
There are all sorts of rabbits living in Britain. There are wild ones, Lop-eared dwarf, Giant Rabbits, Rex Rabbits, Dutch Rabbits, Angora rabbits, Netherlands dwarf rabbits and hundreds more. Giant rabbits live inside the house and like to chew furniture. Lop-eared dwarf rabbits have ears that flop down at the sides of their head when they start to grow. Wild rabbits are free to run wherever they want but sometimes it can be tricky to find food. The Rex Rabbit has the softest and shortest hair of all the other rabbits. It is also about 40cm long. The Dutch rabbit is attractive and very friendly. It is also very popular. The Angora rabbit has very soft hair. It is usually kept indoors, inside a wired pen to keep its coat nice and clean. The Netherlands dwarf rabbit has got very short ears and a round head. It's not always friendly either.
When rabbits are born, they have no fur at all. Some rabbits are born pink and some are born black and they need looked after by their mother until they are older. Mother rabbits dig holes to have her babies in. The mother can have five or six babies at a time. Inside her burrow she puts in moss, hair from her belly and grass to make the nest. Baby rabbits are called kittens. They are born with their eyes closed and cannot hear. Mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day. The milk is very rich and the babies fill up to capacity within minutes. Mother rabbits do not sit on their babies to keep them warm. Baby rabbits are often restated by well meaning humans who think that they have been abandoned. Fewer than 10% of these babies survive.
There are different types of diseases rabbits can catch. One of them is called Myxomatosis. It is a disease affecting rabbits caused by the myxoma virus of the pox family. It originally came from Australia. It is common among wild rabbits population in the U.K. Over 90% of wild rabbits die of Myxomatosis. Pet rabbits can recover from the disease if it is given intensive veterinary treatment immediately.
Rabbits can become pests by eating farmers and gardener's plants. Some people shoot or even trap them. Wild rabbits carry horrible diseases so you should not touch them. Some rabbits eat different kinds of plants, including grass, plant leaves, roots and shoots. Plants can be quite hard to eat, and that's why rabbits have strong teeth.
Hares and rabbits are different from each other. Rabbits are born with no hair at all and they can't see for a while. While hares are born with hair and they can see straight away. They are also a lot bigger than rabbits and they have black markings on their fur. When rabbits are born they are called kittens and when hares are born they are called leverets. They also have different diets. Hares eat hard food like bark, rind, buds, small twigs and shoots. While rabbits prefer to eat soft food like grass, plants and vegetables. Rabbits usually live in burrows but hares live on the surface among plants and they escape enemies by running.
Badgers, buzzards and weasels try to hunt and eat young rabbits. Foxes, cats, and other animals eat adult rabbits. Some wild rabbits live for more than 2 years unless they get killed. A rabbit will try and run away from predators, and they will raise their white tail to warn others that there is danger approaching.
Pet rabbits have a home called a hutch. The hutch has got a bedroom for the rabbit- or rabbits- to sleep in. The bedding of the hutch is covered with old newspaper and straw. The hutch should be above the ground so that predators don't startle the rabbit. Rabbits love to nibble at carrots and lettuce that their owners give them. They also sip water from a small bottle that's fixed to their hutch. They can live for 5-10 years.
You can get one-or two-rabbits from your nearest pet shop or you can buy one in the newspaper for a cheaper price. You can buy them in all sorts of colours like brown, black, white or even mixed colours. If you buy one out of the newspaper, you will probably be given a food mix. When you buy a rabbit, put it into a cardboard box and shut the lid, so it doesn't get scared on the journey home. Your rabbit will be scared the first couple of days, then it will get to know you.