Rabbits, or as their common nickname goes, bunnies are mammals that belong to the Leporidae family along with hares.Whether it is a wild European rabbit or a domesticated rabbit living in your house as a pet, not a single kind of rabbit is known for laying eggs. This must make you wonder, where do the stories of egg-laying rabbits originate from as no rabbit species has ever been known to lay eggs, yet there are numerous stories about it.Interestingly, the stories about a bunny laying eggs originate from the festival of Easter. The Easter bunny is the one that is known for laying eggs, although it is just a myth and a story it is deep-seated in the hearts of all who have been celebrating easter since their childhood. To your surprise, even though rabbits do not lay eggs in real life, there are some mammals in the world that lay eggs in the process of giving birth to their young ones. This includes the likes of platypus and The Spiny Anteater. Both of these animals live in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania where both of them exhibit characteristics that make them look like reptiles. The temperature of their blood is way lower than that of an average mammal who are warm-blooded beings. Let us take a closer look at the origin of egg-laying bunny stories and how in reality do the rabbits reproduce.How can you tell a bunny is pregnant?If a rabbit hasn’t been neutered at a young age, it can later on go on to produce young ones. On average, rabbits become sexually mature when they are around three and a half months old. If you own a female pet rabbit you can expect it to become pregnant only when it is at least three and a half months old and has been in contact with a male rabbit in recent times. There are a few signs you can pick up on to get an idea about whether or not your pet bunny will give birth to a litter of rabbits.The most obvious sign is the belly of the female rabbit becoming enlarged, which is a common sign in all mammals. In order to keep its babies healthy, the female bunny has an increased diet when it’s pregnant and also tend to gain some weight. You can also expect your rabbit to exhibit moody behavior if she has babies inside her. Once the bunny is pregnant for at least a couple of weeks, you can feel marble-sized rabbits growing inside her belly, this will confirm that your bunny is pregnant. Usually, rabbits take about a month to give birth so, in the coming two weeks, your bunny is expected to give birth to many pretty rabbits. As the final day approaches, you will see your rabbit exhibiting nesting behavior where it begins to build a comfortable area where it can give birth, it is usually made of hay or some other comfortable material.Do bunnies lay eggs?No, for a fact, rabbits don’t lay eggs but there is more to it than just a one-word answer. The stories regarding a bunny and it laying eggs dates back to a couple of centuries. It is believed that the Easter traditions of the American Pennsylvanian Dutch Community led to the birth of the famous easter egg and the egg-laying rabbit known as Oschter Haws. Whereas other people believe that the stories of egg-laying rabbits date back to the ancient festival of Ostara.In the festival of Ostara, people celebrated the Spring equinox which marked the celebration of rebirth, spring and fertility. Due to a low gestation period where rabbits could produce many young ones at once and do this four to five times a year made people associate rabbits with fertility. As a fact, in a lifespan of around 9-12 years, a rabbit is capable of producing around 1,000 young ones. Various religions in the pagan world marked rabbits as a sign of fertility. Along with rabbits, people marked eggs too as a sign of fertility which eventually led to the stories of the Easter bunny and the colourful eggs of easter. According to the traditions of the American Pennsylvanian Dutch Community, the children would hang hats outside on the night before Easter and wait for the Easter bunny to reward them if they had been good children. The next morning the children looked into their hats expecting gifts from the Easter bunny, it is believed that the children who had been judged good received colorful eggs which are known as easter eggs along with some other treats while others who were thought to be less worthy received bunny poop instead of easter eggs from the easter bunny. Interestingly, the idea of these decorated eggs can be traced back to 3000 BC in Persia where they were used to celebrate the first day of spring.How do rabbits give birth?Now that we know that egg-laying rabbits are just a myth, and Easter bunny and Easter eggs are just a festive tradition, let us find out how do rabbits give birth to young ones in real life. Rabbits give birth multiple times in a year and each time the litter size comprises of many small bunnies usually around five but they can give birth to as many as 12 rabbits at a time.Like other mammals, female rabbits become pregnant when they breed with their male counterparts. The gestation period in females lasts for around a month following which they give birth to their young ones in a comfortable place that is made up of the mother’s fur and hay. It is a myth that rabbits give birth to their babies from their mouth, they follow the usual birth-giving procedure like all the other mammals and have been doing the same for the past many years. It is best if you do not directly touch a newborn rabbit, use a stick to turn them around and check that none of them is dead. Moreover, these babies are pretty weak when they are born and are blind too, they open their eyes as time passes.Facts About Reproduction In BunniesRanging from the easter bunny, the Easter eggs to rabbits in real life, these are one of the most interesting but fun-loving animals on Earth. Let us find some amazing facts related to the reproduction method and practices of rabbits.Did you know, a female rabbit although can become sexually active from the age of three and a half months old, a male rabbit takes around seven months to become capable of producing young ones. Interestingly, in a year, a single female rabbit can turn into a mother, a grandmother and also a great grandmother, because of the efficiency of rabbits’ reproduction. Did you know, neutralized rabbits, the ones who cannot produce babies have a longer life expectancy than the ones who aren’t neutered.
Rabbits, or as their common nickname goes, bunnies are mammals that belong to the Leporidae family along with hares.
