Many long time friends of Ralph’s Rabbit
Ranch know we get all sorts of questions each week from people around the world.
Last week was no exception. A young girl
from Abilene, Kansas, a High School sophomore named Melissa, wrote seeking help
with a term paper she is writing on Animal Husbandry. Her question was: ‘are rabbits
right pawed or left pawed’. I
thought it was a good question so I will share our reply back to her.
Science tells us that 10 - 12 % of
the human population is left handed and that that percentage has remained
constant the past 300,000 years. We are
told 30,000,000 people in the U.S. are left handed and that woman are more likely
to be righted than left.
Up until the mid 1950’s scientists claimed
that “handedness” was only a human trait that did not apply to lower forms of animals. Today we know this is wrong. Animals of all species display traits of “handedness”
whether they are Cats, Dogs, Cows, Horses or even Goldfishes. “Handedness” is a universal phenomenon in all
living creatures.
To help you think about ‘Handedness’
here’s a question for all NASCAR enthusiasts. Which way to NASCAR vehicles race around a
track? Clockwise or Counter Clock wise?.
For those of you who don’t understand the difference – clockwise races are
designed to favor right-handers drivers while counter clockwise races favor left
hander drivers.
Try this. Think about baseball. Do ball players run the bases clockwise or
counter cock wise? When a player runs from
first to second base and then to third and finally home is he running clockwise
or counter clockwise? If you said
counter clockwise you are correct. Ball players run a left hander lap just as NASCAR
drivers drive counter clockwise.
What about thorough breed horse racing
- either saddled or buggied? Do the
horses run clockwise or counter clockwise. The answer = “left-handed” laps. There’s no real plausible explanation for
this however since the vast majority of professional athletes (human and
horses) normally lead with their dominant hand or foot going left makes them
have to excel harder in order to win.
My understanding of rabbit ‘handedness’
has been acquired over the 14 years I have been raising rabbits commercially. Even
though experts say 10 - 12 percent of the human population exhibits left
handedness our personal observations here at the ranch reveals almost 30% of any
given rabbit population is left pawed. We know this from three things. First, by the way rabbits initiate their
leaps and hops. Left pawed rabbits push
off with their left paws whereas right pawed rabbits kick off with their right paws.
Second, when rabbits position food a
left pawed rabbit will use the left front paw more than a right pawed rabbit will. Finally, when a rabbit gnaws on food like a
carrot - left pawed rabbits gnaw from their left side while right pawed rabbits
begin gnawing from the right side.
Since we keep accurate records on
our breeding cycles we know that older does tend to give birth to more left
pawed kits then younger does. We also know
that left pawed rabbits are more aggressive and appear more intelligent. How do we know this? Left pawed rabbits are generally the first
ones to come out during feeding times and they push and buck to defend their position
in the feeding line.
Studies conducted by the AMA suggest
left handed males have higher levels of testosterone and mature later sexually than
right hander’s - which we agree. Left
pawed bucks are always more prolific during our scheduled breeding sessions; unfortunately
the downside from a Rabbit Ranchers perspective is since left pawed bucks sexually
mature later we get less quality breeding time out of them.
Finally and this is an easy test for
you to perform on your own. The next
time you see a rabbit in your yard or in a field take a moment to study it. Left pawed rabbits tend to look to their left
about 70% more often than their right pawed counterparts. Right pawed rabbits favor looking to their
right side seldom to their left.
Hope this all makes sense and gives
you a better appreciation for rabbits. Your friend Ralph
