Did you know that bunny teeth never stop growing?

It’s crazy, but true!

 
Rabbits need to constantly chew on fibrous foods to keep their teeth worn down. Actually, rodents are in the same boat as well, including beavers, mice and squirrels, to name a few. If they didn’t constantly chew, their teeth would just keep getting longer and longer. A rabbit’s teeth can grow 3 to 5 inches annually!

Rabbits are herbivores, so their diets consist solely of plant material. A rabbit’s buffet menu often includes hard vegetation such as hay, tree bark, twigs and other material that requires lots of chewing. No wonder Peter Rabbit was always stealing Farmer McGregor’s carrots! Carrots are much tastier than hay or bark! The extensive chewing and gnawing that rabbits regularly engage in balances the perpetual tooth growth.

A baby rabbit has 16 deciduous teeth, replaced by 28 adult teeth. These teeth include the incisors, which are the visible front teeth, and cheek teeth that consist of molars and premolars. Rabbits do not have the fang-like canine teeth that dogs and cats possess. All of a rabbit’s teeth have what’s called, open roots, enabling them to constantly grow throughout the rabbit’s life. Rabbits and rodents are the only animals with open-root tooth structure.

This Easter, enjoy your chocolate bunny, but afterward, gnaw on a couple carrots for us, will ya?!

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