By Jo Carol Hebert

Habits are the things you do that make you – YOU!

If you were a rabbit, you would hippity-hop to school on springy legs.

If you were a rabbit, you could live all over the world, but not in cold Antarctica.

You would be a herbivore and eat ALL your vegetables.

But in the winter, you would have to eat wood stems and tree bark.

You would live in a neighborhood of underground tunnels called a warren. 

Your home would be in a burrow, a special hole for your family in the tunnels.

Your mother would be called a ‘doe.’ Your father would be a ‘buck.’

And you and your many, many brothers and sisters would be called ‘kittens.’

Of course, your ears would be long and your tail would be fluffy.

And if you were a rabbit, everyone would say, ”Oh, look at the cute bunny!”

Rabbits like to come out at dawn – when the sun rises, and at dusk – when the sun goes down. During the day, they hide in bushes.

Foxes, dogs, raccoons, owls, and hawks like to eat rabbits. But rabbits have super vision and hearing.

They can also zig-zag, back and forth, when they run. This pattern confuses their predators, so they escape.

Can you zig-zag?

• Hares are also in the rabbit family. They have longer ears and longer legs.
• Hares are born with hair and can see.
• Only the Cottontail Rabbit builds a nest.     

Learn all about the Arctic Hare here.

Want to read some stories about rabbits?

Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter, is one of the best stories about a rabbit, and just like you, he’s learning how to grow up.

Rabbits are thought to be clever and smart. Read the Aseop fable, The Hare and the Tortoise, about a tortoise that outsmarts a hare.

Have you seen Bugs Bunny in television cartoons? You might even know “Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail. . . . “

Test Your Rabbit IQ

Are you ready for a fun ‘quiz’ on rabbits? Answer True or False (hint: all the answers can be found in the text above).

1. Rabbits eat vegetables and are herbivores.
2. Rabbits lives in trees.
3. Rabbits lay eggs.
4. Rabbits have 10 teeth.
5. Rabbits stay with their mother for two weeks.
6. A baby rabbit is called a puppy.
7. Rabbits live in Antarctica.
8. Rabbits can be a pet.
9. Hares are also in the rabbit family.
10. These animals run in a straight line to avoid predators.

What’s Your Rabbit IQ?

All 10 Correct – You’re Rab-tastic!

5-9 – You Get a Carrot!

1-4 – Hop Back on the Rabbit Trail

None Right – Come Out of Your Warren!

Did you like being a rabbit? Let us know what other kind of animal you would like to be.

Happy Hopping, Smarty Pants!