Rabbit Reproduction - Anatomy & Physiology

BACK TO REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM BACK TO SMALL DOMESTIC MAMMALS

Male

• Male rabbit is known as the buck.

Penis

• Rounded penile sheath.
• Rounded penile urethra.
• Easily extruded in rabbits over 2 months of age.

Testes

• Two testes
• Descend at ~12 weeks of age
• Large with epididymal fat pads.
• 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).
• Inguinal canal remains open.

Accessory Sex Glands

• Seminal vesicles: Open into the prostatic section of the urethra.
• Bulbourethral Glands: Small and paired, form a bilobed swelling in the dorsal wall of the urethra, just behind the prostate.
• Prostate Gland

Mammary Gland

• No nipples

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Female

• Female rabbit is known as the Doe.

Reproductive Tract

• 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.

Puberty and Sexual Maturity

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

Breeding Characteristics

• 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 and Offspring

• 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.

Mammary Gland

• Doe has 4/5 pairs of nipples.