Rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents, and a rabbit has two pairs of upper front teeth, a big pair with a small peg tooth behind each, while a rodent has only one pair. A rabbit's front teeth never stop growing, and chewing hay helps wear down a rabbit's teeth. A jackrabbit is not a rabbit. It is a hare. Hares live mostly in open country, but rabbits stay close to thick cover. A jackrabbit rests in the shade of a shrub or tall grass during the hottest part of the day.

A rabbit's eyes sit high on the sides of its head, so it can spot danger from almost any direction. It has a blind spot under its chin and in front of its nose. A rabbit can move each of its big ears on its own to find where a sound is coming from. A rabbit may thump its back feet on the ground to warn of danger.

Rabbits eat only plants, and in winter, cottontails eat bark, twigs and buds. Chewing hay helps wear down a rabbit's teeth, and carrots are only an occasional treat for a rabbit, not its main food. Rabbits eat some of their own soft droppings to get more food value from plants. A rabbit has a very large cecum, a pouch in its gut where plant food ferments. Rabbits pass a special soft dropping called a cecotrope, and they eat it to get extra nutrients.

Some wild rabbits live in underground homes called warrens, and rabbits in a warren live in groups. A typical group has six to ten adults, and a big warren can hold up to 30 rabbits, and a big warren can spread across two acres or more. A cottontail mother scrapes a shallow dip in the ground for her nest instead of digging a burrow, and she lines her nest with grass and her own fur.

A baby rabbit is called a kit. Baby cottontails are born with no fur, and they cannot see. A mother rabbit stays away from her nest most of the day and visits only briefly to feed her babies. Young cottontails are on their own when they are about a month old, and a mother rabbit can have another litter soon after she has had one. Most wild eastern cottontails live only two or three years.

A pet rabbit needs a lot of time and care. Pet rabbits eat mostly hay, and they should eat only a few pellets. Pet rabbits need other rabbits for company, and two pet rabbits should meet slowly, on neutral ground. A pet rabbit loose in a room must be kept safe from chewing electrical cords. Never pick up a rabbit by its ears. A pet rabbit can live for 8 to 12 years.

Words to know

• lagomorphs: rabbits and hares
• cecum: gut pouch
• cecotrope: soft dropping
• warrens: underground rabbit homes