Feeding behaviour of rabbits | Comportement alimentaire du lapin
2020
Gidenne, Thierry | Lebas, François | Fortun-Lamothe, Laurence | Génétique Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage (GenPhySE) ; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-École nationale supérieure agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan (INP - PURPAN) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Association Cuniculture | J.C. De Blas | J. Wiseman
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. As a non-ruminant herbivore, the rabbit has a unique feeding behaviour compared to otherdomestic animals. It belongs to the Lagomorph order (Leporidae family: rabbits and hares;Grassé and Dekeuser, 1955) and, consequently, expresses one main specifiity: caecotrophy.In brief (see details in Chapter 1) caecotrophy is a complete behaviour involving the excretionand immediate consumption of specifi faeces, named soft faeces or ‘caecotrophes’. Consequently, the daily intake behaviour of the rabbit is comprised of two meals: feeds and caecotrophes. Although the rabbit is not a rodent, one of the main features of its feeding behaviour is to gnaw. Information about feeding behaviourhas mainly been obtained with the domestic rabbit, bred for meat or fur production or as alaboratory animal. It has basically involved rabbits receiving ad libitum a balanced completepelleted feed, supplemented or not with dry forages or straw, but generally without a real freechoice of feed. This chapter reviews regulation of the intake behaviour according to several factors: age, type of feed and so on. The last part of the chapter is devoted to the feeding behaviour of wild and domestic rabbits in a situation of free choice.
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