Rabbit Reproduction - Anatomy & Physiology

BACK TO REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM BACK TO SMALL DOMESTIC MAMMALS

Male

• Male rabbit is known as the buck.
• Two testes
  • Descend at ~12 weeks of age
    • Inguinal canal remains open.
  • In the adult male they lie in two almost hairless scrotal sacs.
• Scrotal sacs are cranial to the penis (In the majority of placental mammals they lie caudal to the penis).
• No nipples

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Female

• Female rabbit is known as the Doe.

• Bicornuate duplex uterus.
  • Two seperate uterine horns.
  • No uterine body
  • Each horn has its own cervix
  • Two cervices open into a single vagina.
• Mesometrium is a major fat storage organ.

• Age of sexual maturity varies with breed.
  • Small breeds mature at ~5 months
  • Larger breeds mature as late at as 8 months.

• Induced ovulator with no well-defined oestrous cycle.
• Periods of sexual receptivity every 4-6 days.
• Oestrus period lasts ~14 days.
• Ovulation occurs within 10 hours of coitus.
• Breeding season January-October in the UK.

• Gestation period is 28-32 days.
• Pseudopregnancy may occur.
  • Lasts 18 days.

• Litter size 4-12.
• Young are altricial
  • Born hairless, deaf and blind.
  • Totally dependent on their mother for the first few weeks of life.
  • Protected from the environment and predators by the nest which is made by the Doe using hair from the dewlap.
  • If the nest is disturbed, the Doe may cannibalise the offspring.

• Doe has 4/5 pairs of nipples.