Rabbits' normal behaviours

Bunnymad’s glossary of normal behaviours exhibited by rabbits

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

Below is an A-Z of all the normal behaviours we could think of that are exhibited by the wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Our domestic rabbits are descended from these wild lagomorphs. They are one of the world’s most recently domesticated animals, and they have retained their wild ancestors’ instincts – especially the prey animal instincts – and behave in much the same way as wild rabbits, given the opportunity.

We’ve divided our list of rabbit behaviours into four categories:

·      Prey
Behaviours related to rabbits’ instinct to avoid predators, through constantly assimilating possible threats, and their physiological adaptations.

·      Social
Behaviours related to rabbits’ instinct to form social groups, and how they establish hierarchies and communicate within these groups.

·      Eating
Behaviours related to rabbits’ need to find food and shelter, including their toileting behaviours.

·      Reproductive
Behaviours relating to rabbits’ need to reproduce.

Many of the behaviours overlap: behaviours are included under more than one category where they are exhibited in response to multiple reasons (you might find some repetition!); even the categories themselves are inter-related. For example, rabbits reproduce prolifically because they are prey for so many creatures, and this is the only way of guaranteeing their survival.

For each, we’ve highlighted how our pet rabbits exhibit the behaviour, and what we can do to allow and encourage them perform it, including enrichment ideas, where relevant.

Please let us know if we’ve missed anything!

Click on the Bunnymad bunnies in the table...

…to read about each behaviour.

Behaviour	Associated instinct(s)
	Prey	Social	Eating	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